The bill for the AI computing power arms race is out, starting at 38 billion dollars, with server depreciation taking up 60%, making this game truly unaffordable for ordinary people.

Epoch AI estimates the ownership cost of a 1GW AI data center: initial capital expenditure of $38 billion, annual operating expenses of $900 million. After amortization, the annualized total cost is approximately $8.5 billion, with server depreciation about $5 billion, accounting for 60%, and energy and other operational costs around $600 million. If the IT equipment lifespan is 3 years, the annualized cost rises to $12 billion; if it is 7 years, it drops to $7 billion. Source: BlockBeats.