As someone with a portfolio of energized land assets here is what I am seeing:
1. Neoclouds are disorganized and poorly capitalized. Some are definitely better than others however.
2. Hyperscalers are intractable, bureaucratic organizations that take 3 months to do an NDA and want 18mo escrow periods. We built our portfolio by competing against these terms because of our speed and simplicity. The more future assets orgs like ours win, the bigger the problem for the hyperscalers downstream (see 3).
3. There are delays in the existing pipeline that will catch people off guard in 2027. Hyperacalers will (obviously) react by focusing on their own internal compute needs over any third party. If the third party is a model company, they will tell them to go through their model router where they will also take a non-trivial vig. Them telling Ant they have no compute for them (rumored in Ant’s S-1) if true is a huge tell that this is already happening.
All of this is to say that it does look like there will be a lot of partially stranded compute and compute sitting in inventory in 2027 than is currently forecasted. This is bought and paid for but effectively underearning (below total cost of capital) or collecting dust. We see this as true for everyone - model companies, hyperscalers, neoclouds except ONE (you can guess which one).
This dislocation will benefit two kinds of orgs: the non-bureaucratic big scalers who can build industrial scale quickly and the nimble, well capitalized players feeding them.
2027 will be a turbulent year because it will clear out a bunch of wrong/bad bets. It will also be a consolidation year for a few.
算力戰國時代:科技巨頭玩「權力遊戲」
Dan Ives 以「權力遊戲」(Game of Thrones)比喻當前美國數據中心的建設狂潮,形容科技巨頭為奪算力已進入血腥殘酷的資源掠奪戰。這項比喻在科技業界引發廣泛共振。梳理這場集結資本、電力與航天新勢力的「算力戰國時代」,其競爭格局與這套經典劇集的角力如出一轍,核心關鍵在於五大生存法則。
一、 搶佔稀缺資源:由軟體算法演變為「搶電搶地」
在《權力遊戲》中,各大領主爭奪的是鐵王座與領土;而在當前 AI 發展的新階段,競爭的核心已由純粹的演算法(Software)與晶片(GPU)採購,全面轉向極度稀缺的實體基礎建設——電力供應(Power)、土地與冷卻水資源。
電力缺乏已成為當前最大的發展瓶頸。誰能優先鎖定核能、地熱或獨立微電網,誰便能在這場「割據戰」中佔山為王。
二、 零和博弈局勢:慢一步即面臨邊緣化
劇中名言「在權力遊戲中,你不勝就是死」(In the game of thrones, you win or you die),道出了科技巨頭當下的焦慮。
算力規模直接決定了下一代 AI 模型的訓練成敗與效能上限。無論是Microsoft、Google、Amazon還是 Meta,只要在數據中心部署與電力鎖定上稍有延誤,頂尖研發人才與商業客戶便會迅速流失。這並非溫和共享市場的常態競爭,而是一場勝者全收的淘汰賽。
三、 產業殘酷洗牌:新興算力商(Neoclouds)陷淘汰危機
在劇集中,實力較弱的小家族極易在大戰中成為犧牲品;現實中,產業洗牌亦在加速上演。
前兩年乘著 AI 熱潮、透過高槓桿融資購入 GPU 轉租的新興算力商(Neoclouds),隨著融資成本攀升及債務壓力加劇,加上科技巨頭直接壟斷了關鍵的電力與數據中心資源,正面臨被低價併購甚至破產的困境。市場資金正迅速向資產負債表穩健的巨頭集中。
四、 異軍突起:SpaceX 攜星鏈與算力「跨界殺入」
恰如劇中異軍突起的外部強大勢力,由Elon Musk掌舵的 SpaceX 正以積極的姿態跨界入局。
SpaceX 原本聚焦航天與衛星通訊,但憑藉Starlink的全球網絡基礎設施、強勁的航天業務現金流,以及與 xAI 算力池的深度整合,正迅速轉型為新型態的超大規模雲端服務商(Hyperscaler)。這股跨界勢力的加入,徹底打破傳統三大雲端巨頭(AWS、Azure、GCP)長期割據的市場版圖。
五、 結盟與背叛:爭相構建「算力—電力聯盟」
劇中各家族合縱連橫,而當前科技巨頭亦在加速構建利益共同體。
各大科技巨頭正與電力供應商、小型核反應堆(SMR)新創公司乃至晶片龍頭,簽訂長期的獨家電力購買協議(PPA)。在這場長期角力中,誰能組建最堅固的「算力與電力戰略聯盟」,誰便最有機會登頂 AI 時代的「鐵王座」。 #AI算力 #權力遊戲
We estimate there will be another 800-1,000 datacenters built in the US over the next few years..this will be a Game of Thrones battle in the tech world to secure compute power. SpaceX is aggressively building out its hyperscaler infrastructure vs neoclouds and cloud players 🏆🥊
Science does not have a moral dimension. It is like a knife. If you give it to a surgeon or a murderer, each will use it differently.
-- as mentioned in Futurehype: The Myths of Technology Change (2009) by Robert B. Seidensticker
@zangart90 講得對。Nebius 確實只係冰山一角。當『借錢買 GPU』呢條路行不通,你覺得行業未來會點應對?係會加速向 Big Tech 集中,定係會出現更多像『客戶預付款/股權置換算力』呢類新型融資工具?下一步好睇傳統金融機構對 AI 算力資產嘅殘值(residual value)點樣評估。
As someone with a portfolio of energized land assets here is what I am seeing:
1. Neoclouds are disorganized and poorly capitalized. Some are definitely better than others however.
2. Hyperscalers are intractable, bureaucratic organizations that take 3 months to do an NDA and want 18mo escrow periods. We built our portfolio by competing against these terms because of our speed and simplicity. The more future assets orgs like ours win, the bigger the problem for the hyperscalers downstream (see 3).
3. There are delays in the existing pipeline that will catch people off guard in 2027. Hyperacalers will (obviously) react by focusing on their own internal compute needs over any third party. If the third party is a model company, they will tell them to go through their model router where they will also take a non-trivial vig. Them telling Ant they have no compute for them (rumored in Ant’s S-1) if true is a huge tell that this is already happening.
All of this is to say that it does look like there will be a lot of partially stranded compute and compute sitting in inventory in 2027 than is currently forecasted. This is bought and paid for but effectively underearning (below total cost of capital) or collecting dust. We see this as true for everyone - model companies, hyperscalers, neoclouds except ONE (you can guess which one).
This dislocation will benefit two kinds of orgs: the non-bureaucratic big scalers who can build industrial scale quickly and the nimble, well capitalized players feeding them.
2027 will be a turbulent year because it will clear out a bunch of wrong/bad bets. It will also be a consolidation year for a few.