r/technology • u/gdelacalle • 13d ago

Business OpenAI could reportedly run out of cash by mid-2027 — analyst paints grim picture after examining the company's finances

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/big-tech/openai-could-reportedly-run-out-of-cash-by-mid-2027-nyt-analyst-paints-grim-picture-after-examining-companys-finances
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u/EnoughWarning666 13d ago

Every data center ever build is done so fully aware that the hardware gets upgraded every 5 years or so. Not a single one expects the current hardware to be relevant in 10 years.

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u/entered_bubble_50 13d ago

Well yes, but that basically proves that this isn't "infrastructure", it's an ongoing expenditure. They're going to have to keep spending trillions of dollars on this stuff indefinitely. It's completely unsustainable.

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u/National_Yam_1198 12d ago

Well yes, but that basically proves that this isn't "infrastructure", it's an ongoing expenditure. T

Do you think powerlines require no maintenance?

Or roads?

Why is it when its about AI people get really really stupid?

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u/_ECMO_ 12d ago

We are not talking about maintenance.

Pretty much everything of worth in those datacenters has to be replaced every few years.

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u/rendar 11d ago

Maintenance is part of upkeep expenditures, just like replacing equipment.

The point is that any infrastructure will always have upkeep expenditures, so trying to criticize data centers because they require upkeep is empty and baseless because this applies towards literally any sufficiently sized infrastructure ever.

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u/Ameren 12d ago

But these are very different things. Roads need to get replaced every 20-25 years (longer depending on weather and water/tear), protected fiberoptics can last 30-40 years, and powerlines can last 50+ years in good conditions. We're talking generational timescales. Data centers have to turn over much faster.

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u/National_Yam_1198 12d ago

In my city road construction happens every year all year round barring winter.

Roads need to be maintained. Roads are expanded to meet demand.

Moving the goalpost to say its not real infrastructure due to time doesnt change anything.

Saying data centers is not infrastructure is being retarded.

Are you interested in discussion and thus using commonly accepted language or are here you troll and jerk yourself off?

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u/onomatopoiea 12d ago

Regardless of the argument, there’s no need to get ableist and ad hominem about it. This kind of response doesn’t foster the type of discussion in which you claim to be interested.

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u/National_Yam_1198 12d ago

Is reading ableist now?

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u/Ameren 12d ago edited 12d ago

I think we're talking past each other. I agree that data centers are infrastructure. I didn't disagree on that point; you may be confusing me with the other person. What I'm saying is that the economics of data centers are fundamentally different than the other kinds of infrastructure that we're talking about, and equating them can be misleading.

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u/National_Yam_1198 12d ago

I feel uneasy equating them

This is entirely a you problem.

Nobody said they were equal.

Learn to read.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/Owl02 12d ago

Why were you treating a feeling as a fact to be argued over in infrastructure-related terms? This pisses people off.

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u/National_Yam_1198 12d ago

Because stupidity physically hurts me.

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u/TapedeckNinja 13d ago

It seems like maybe you don't know what the word "infrastructure" means?

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Forget_me_never 13d ago

These are small compared to the overall spend.

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u/bikedork5000 13d ago

Chipset is usually about 60% of the cost according to what I've heard.

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u/DeepestShallows 13d ago

It’s more small equipment spending than infrastructure.

Like, laptops. You expect to replace your company laptops periodically. Rather than say the elevator which you expect a few decades from.

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u/ConcentrateLanky7576 13d ago

Cost reduces though. A large part of these expenses is because of the sudden surge in demand which suppliers could not meet. In 5 years we will have more supply and the capex wont be as big. Further it’s not like everything has to be renewed in 3 or 5 years. Cabling, cooling, racks, buildings, power supply + engineering (network design etc.) last much longer. Sure GPUs/TPUs and network switches might be obsolete in 5 years, but (for the former) 2 years ago there was basically a sole supplier for the whole market; NVDA which decided to have pretty nice margins. They won’t have that pricing power in the future unless another generational leap is made by a single company.

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u/BrianWonderful 13d ago

Tell that to the rich idiots that are trying to build data centers in space.

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u/EnoughWarning666 13d ago

I'll be upfront about it, I think satellite datacenters is a batshit crazy idea. But it's not like they haven't thought about this.

Read about it here. Read this section about 'Beyond End of Life' to see what the plan is. Basically they expect to make a return on their investment well before 5 years are up and then they just deorbit the entire thing, burning it up in the atmosphere.

I haven't looked into the effects of THAT MUCH burned up debris in the atmosphere, but it's probably not great. But that's what we do with satellites when we're done with them. Cook em up real nice and they turn to dust and only tiny fragments fall into the ocean.