Today's Sharp Take: The AI Power Problem is Solved
All the chatter about the AI power gap is over-blown, because capital is on the table
Yesterday’s changes at OpenAI, like Mira Morati's departure, have sparked some talk, but when you step back this is not going to be news in two weeks. What really matters is the capital in play for a run at Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI).
Sam’s rumored $6.5B round is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds of billions getting poured into data centers by major players like Amazon, Microsoft (an OpenAI frenemy), Google, Meta, Oracle, and X (50B+ per quarter between them).
Microsoft's decision to bring back the Three Mile Island nuclear facility as the Crane Clean Energy Center is a significant move. It marks a trend of reopening older nuclear sites to satisfy AI’s energy needs, especially with small modular reactors in the mix—another area Sam is investing in. Pulling power off the shelves fast is crucial for private companies engaged in what they privately view as a race for the ultimate prize.
In this context, leadership shifts at OpenAI are minor in comparison. Sam’s fundraising genius is going to keep OpenAI viable, and the industry as a whole has the capital on the table to persuade even the banks to play ball on nuclear. The story today is Mira, but the larger story is that there’s enough capital deployed now to solve the power problem for the AGI/ASI push in ‘27-’28.
Today’s sharp thought: Mira’s departure is a non-issue. Sam is going to raise. And what really matters is there is the capital in play to scale up nuclear for a run at AGI / ASI.