I have been curious about the “what must be true” for AI data centers to be brought online. I wanted a systemic review to understand the technical supply chain to deliver modern inference.

What I found is the AI buildout is being slowed by people declining the offer, some on their porches, some on planning commissions, some at the trading floor of a capacity auction. There's also a few single points of failure in the supply chain.

The AI buildout, as I learned, is a bigger test of our entire economic, political, and societal system.

Hope you enjoy it.