Google needs to double its AI serving capacity 'every six months' and scale 'the next 1000x in 4-5 years' according to an internal presentation

A screenshot of a very messy factory in, err, Satisfactory — (Image credit: Coffee Stain Studios)

If there's one thing sure to ruin your day at work, it's receiving an unrealistic target from your higher-ups. Pour one out, then, for the Google employees who attended an all-hands meeting earlier this month, only to be told that they need to double its serving capacity every six months to meet AI compute demand.

That's according to CNBC, as the news outlet got a look at a presentation reportedly given to employees by Google AI infrastructure chief Amin Vahdat earlier this month. A slide entitled "AI compute demand" informed the team that "Now we must double every six months... the next 1000x in 4-5 years."

Data Center — (Image credit: Akos Stiller - Getty Images)

"It won't be easy," the Google AI chief said. "But through collaboration and co-design, we're going to get there."

That sounds like quite the task, doesn't it? I can only imagine the blank faces in the room as the Google engineers wrapped their heads around the idea of expanding their infrastructure on a truly gigantic scale, in record timeframes, without substantially increasing the budget—both literally and figuratively.

Management consultancy firm McKinsey & Company estimates that AI data centers are expected to require $5.3 trillion in capital expenditures by 2030, or roughly $1 trillion over Nvidia's current market cap, if you prefer to think of it that way. Certainly, if efficiencies could be made to enable unbelievably rapid AI compute expansion without pushing data center power requirements and budgets further into the stratosphere, the company to do so would be in a prime position to make the most of the AI boom.

If, indeed, it lasts that long to begin with, given mounting concerns over a massive, potentially economy-wrecking AI bubble. Still, they don't call it a moon shot for nothing. Get to work, Google AI infrastructure engineers. It sounds like an impossible task, but Vahdat seems to believe in your work ethic. You didn't need a lunch break anyway, did you?

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Andy built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 12, when IDE cables were a thing and high resolution wasn't—and he hasn't stopped since. Now working as a hardware writer for PC Gamer, Andy spends his time jumping around the world attending product launches and trade shows, all the while reviewing every bit of PC gaming hardware he can get his hands on. You name it, if it's interesting hardware he'll write words about it, with opinions and everything.

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