15-year AI vet: 30-40% of data center builds bleed away on admin and contractors
SucceededMind · x · 2026-09-19
A 15-year AI industry veteran (ex-Stanford AI research) pushes back on the narrative that AI compute will keep getting more expensive.
- On a $1B-$2B data center build with 8,000 on-site workers, 30-40% of total cost is administrative and contractor bleed: 400-page PDFs, contractor pay applications, 3,000-line invoices, equipment rental markups
- Hardware is only one component of the bill; hidden parts of the AI cost curve point downward
- He argues AI usage will get dirt cheap, potentially approaching zero water use per query
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