What’s behind the massive AI data center headlines?

The article discusses the recent surge in massive AI data center investments in Silicon Valley, driven primarily by the needs of OpenAI and its partners. Nvidia announced significant infrastructure commitments, while OpenAI revealed plans to expand capacity through collaborations with Oracle and Softbank, adding gigawatts of new power to support future versions of ChatGPT. These individual deals are enormous, but collectively they highlight Silicon Valley’s intense efforts to provide OpenAI with the computational resources required to train and operate increasingly powerful AI models. OpenAI also introduced a new AI feature called Pulse, which operates independently of the ChatGPT app and is currently available only to its $200-per-month Pro subscribers due to limited server capacity. The company aims to expand such features to a broader user base but is constrained by the availability of AI data centers. The article raises the question of whether the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in AI infrastructure to support OpenAI’s ambitions are justified by the value of features like Pulse. The piece also alludes to broader