korrents
Doug O'Laughlin

What Doug O'Laughlin thinks about data centers

@doug-olaughlin · 12 positions · 1 change of mind

Semiconductor analyst, author of the Fabricated Knowledge newsletter and later a partner at SemiAnalysis, writing on the capital cycle in chips: capex, memory supply, packaging, and where the gluts come from.

Doug O'Laughlin did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

5 dated positions, 2024 to 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Doug O'Laughlin has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingCheaper AI will be used more in the long run and still strand the hardware built for it in the short run, exactly as unlit fibre did after 2001.

    Their wordsAnd so, while the Jevons paradox case was 100% correct in the long run, 97% of the fiber laid in 2001 was unlit.

    ↗DeepSeek: Is this Jevon's Cope?fabricatedknowledge.com

  2. 2 weeks earlier

  3. Our readingIf the AI build-out does become a bubble, power and data centres are the assets that will carry it.

    Their wordsIn today’s world, I think the increase in self-fulfilling asset prices will be due to power and data centers.

    ↗Capital Cycles and AIfabricatedknowledge.com 3rd of 3 in this piece

  4. 9 months earlier

  5. Our readingMoore's Law is a fractal: the same squeeze that shrank the transistor is now being applied to the rack.

    Their wordsMoore’s Law is a fractal, and the principles that apply to nanometers apply to racks.

    ↗The Data Center is the New Compute Unit: Nvidia's Vision for System-Level Scalingfabricatedknowledge.com 1st of 3 in this piece

  7. Our readingThe copper backplane inside a rack is the new advanced packaging, and scaling it is where the next generation of performance comes from.

    Their wordsThe copper backplane in the data center rack is effectively the new advanced packaging in the system-level Moore’s Law race.

    ↗The Data Center is the New Compute Unit: Nvidia's Vision for System-Level Scalingfabricatedknowledge.com 2nd of 3 in this piece

  9. Our readingAir cooling has run out of headroom for AI racks, so liquid cooling is now a requirement rather than an upgrade.

    Their wordsThe critical change that makes this all possible is liquid cooling.

    ↗The Data Center is the New Compute Unit: Nvidia's Vision for System-Level Scalingfabricatedknowledge.com 3rd of 3 in this piece