Trump tariffs taking out AI data centres too
Trump tariffs taking out AI data centres too
All industries assume international trade and depend on equipment from around the world. That includes data centres — especially for “hyperscaling” AI. [Reuters, archive] Most data centre electrica…
Most data centre electrical equipment is only made outside the US. President Trump’s tariffs exempt electronics — but that expires 9 July. If it isn’t extended, then US data centres are screwed — no new buildouts, and huge maintenance problems for existing data centres. [Verdict]
Trump had the opportunity to do the funniest thing by setting them for the 4th of July.
At least the data centres are paid for by private companies and not bank loans. This means the bubble pop won’t cause a banking crisis too.
That's waiting until rampant deregulation puts everything in place for another 2008 style crisis
The AI bubble has more than enough money sloshing around that I'm bracing for some more significant knock-on effects from the pop. Tech as a sector has been on some level supporting the rest of the economy in some areas, it seems, and a big employment downturn there could have enough impacts on aggregate demand to cause a recession.
Please note I am not an economist etc. etc please trust basically anyone who contradicts this analysis to know more than me.
I followed the 2008 crash in some detail and as far as I remember it the pension funds and little towns in Norway that got swept away in the financial avalanche were not known before the crash. Then the surviving banks were allowed to rebuild their balance sheets by both government largess and fleecing their customers. And in the euro zone there was the whole euro crisis as spill over effects hit the banks and French and German banks were saved by fleecing Mediterranean EU countries, payed for by destruction of their economies. Which had some nasty political effects like the direct inheritors of Mussolini's party now running Italy.
I don't think we can know even the direct knock-on effects of the crash without knowing what financial institutes and pension funds has gambled on the line going up.
Anyway I expect the oligopolies to receive government support and fleece the rest of the economy. They can probably jack up prices at least 10-15% every year without CEOs going to their IT department and saying "fuck it, teach me Linux, we are switching, this is just to expensive".
Yud must be happy the AGIification of the world is slowing down. Not today TITANS, not today.