20VC: "Anti-Data Centres is a Chinese Psyop" | How Many Planned Data Centers Will Actually Get Built? | Is Energy AI's Biggest Bottleneck? With Thomas Sohmers, Co-Founder @ Positron

Thomas Sohmers is the co-founder and chairman of Positron AI, building chips to make running AI dramatically cheaper and more energy-efficient. The company recently announced an $875 million Series C at a $5 billion valuation, backed by investors including Gavin Baker's Atreides Management, NEA, Valor Equity Partners and Netscape co-founder Jim Clark.

AGENDA:

04:30 Why Does AI Inference Need Different Hardware from Training?

10:25 What Is Nobody Telling You About AI's Token Economics?

13:10 Should We Really Slow Down the AI Frontier?

16:55 What Happens If America Slows Down—and China Doesn't?

19:30 Should We Restrict China's Access to AI Chips?

20:15 Why Aren't Zuckerberg and Jensen Backing an AI Slowdown?

21:25 Are We Being Misled About Data Centers?

23:25 Can the West Beat China While Drowning in Regulation?

26:20 How Many Planned Data Centers Will Actually Get Built?

27:15 Data Centers in Space: Real Opportunity or Elon Hype?

28:10 Is Energy AI's Biggest Bottleneck?

29:55 Could the Debt Boom Derail AI?

31:25 What Is KV Caching—and Why Does It Change AI Economics?

35:25 Does Compressing AI's Memory Make It Less Intelligent?

41:05 How Do We Solve AI's Exploding Memory Demands?

43:45 Will Every Company Own Its Own AI Model?

47:10 Why Bet on Ever-Bigger Models?

48:20 If We Already Have AGI, What Comes Next?

53:25 What Happens When Every AI Lab Builds Its Own Chips?

57:30 If DeepSeek Can Slash Costs with Software, Why Build New Hardware?

59:50 How Cheap Will AI Tokens Be by 2028?

1:03:15 What Would Be the First Warning Sign of an AI Bust?

1:03:55 Could Open Models Break OpenAI and Anthropic's Growth?

1:05:55 Could Mercor and Surge Become $200 Billion Companies?