We’re in the midst of a meteoric rise of data centers promising power, server space, and economic opportunity across America. But the data center boom is already at risk of becoming a bust unless we start building, and investing in, AI applications that go beyond chat bots or agents to solve real problems in daily life like security, affordability, healthcare, and household waste.
While recent investments from tech giants like Amazon and Nvidia suggest a capital expenditure (CapEx) bubble remains far off, the possibility floods headlines. True insulation requires meaningfully redistributing investment from CapEx to creating the apps and services required to achieve sustainable ROI on billion- and trillion-dollar infrastructure bets. It involves launching a new phase of the AI era that Goldman Sachs prices at $8 trillion.
