This is such an important point when comparing data centres to fibre. The fibre is as useful today as it was when it was installed, these data centres will just be big, secure, warehouses full of stuff that needs recycled in 5-10 years.
Do the processors burn out that quickly because they're being used aggressively, do they become obsolete compared to new processors, or do they just undergo an electronic version of rot like a banana left too long on the counter?
Nvidia normally designs new GPUs to be backwards compatible and with some flexiblity about how they're used, but they're now designing GPUs to work in a very narrow context. It helps them ship new product faster, but it's likely to render them useless for future use cases.
The companies buying them mark them on the accounting books as depreciating to no value over five years, but the external analysts believe they are actually geared to replace them even faster than that.
They may actually have some value after this, but it's not going to be like railway track or fibre where there is fifty years of value being laid down.
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u/HundredHander 19d ago
This is such an important point when comparing data centres to fibre. The fibre is as useful today as it was when it was installed, these data centres will just be big, secure, warehouses full of stuff that needs recycled in 5-10 years.