AI Chip Lifespans: A Note on the Secondary Market

Two months ago, I wrote about the competition concerns with the GenAI infrastructure boom. One of my provocative claims was that the lifespan of the chips may be significantly shorter than the accounting treatment given to them. Others like David Rosenthal, Ed Zitron, Michael Burry and Olga Usvyatsky have raised similar concerns. NVIDIA has a response. When asked about chip lifespan, a spokesperson pointed to the secondary market where chips get redeployed for inference, general HPC, and other w...