Zuckerberg says Meta will build a data center the size of Manhattan in AI push(www.theguardian.com)
27 pointsby c4207 months ago11 comments
  • londons_explore7 months ago
    There is only a fixed amount of silicon production capacity. That can't be scaled up quickly.

    Powering all produced chips 24x7 is therefore the maximum energy use.

    I suspect these huge AI datacenter proposals are bigger than that - and therefore either aren't going to happen, or will be delayed many years.

  • rsynnott7 months ago
    > while another, called Hyperion, will be able to scale up to 5 gigawatts over the coming years, Zuckerberg said.

    Someone hasn't read the Dan Simmons novel, it seems. Well, one would hope, anyway.

    • IvyMike7 months ago
      From the classic tweet[0]:

      > Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale

      > Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus

      [0]: https://x.com/AlexBlechman/status/1457842724128833538?lang=e...

      • AlwaysRock7 months ago
        Palantir Technologies is named after the "palantír" from Lord of the Rings. Famously, a well-used and safe technology.
        • jordanb7 months ago
          Really takes a special guy to read a fantasy novel and identify with the villain.
          • palmotea7 months ago
            > Really takes a special guy to read a fantasy novel and identify with the villain.

            IIRC, the palantír were kind of neutral, and created by elves.

            Honestly, I think these techlord LOTR fans identify with the heroes, and lack the insight to realize they'd actually be the villains. They're totally Sarumans raping the forest to build an Orc army to conquer the world.

          • defrost7 months ago
            The official video for the Laibach cover of Sympathy for the Devil comes to mind.

            ( The Robert Fripp, Toyah Wilcox Sunday Lunch cover Sympathy is just a distracting nod to growing old disgracefully )

  • bediger40007 months ago
    For a single, square building, this area would be about 5 miles on a side. That's ridiculous, and you'd have a hard time getting rid of the heat

    If you're putting up fences, include no-go zones, curvy roads with check points and bollards, etc etc to protect a number of large but not absurdly large buildings, maybe. Still seems on the big size.

    • dskhatri7 months ago
      Some of the graphics indicate a contiguous building but it makes no sense to be constructed that way. The footprint probably includes power generation, power conversion, cooling systems, and compute centers as distinct blocks/buildings within the site.
    • quickthrowman7 months ago
      It likely won’t be a single building the size of Manhattan, Facebook doesn’t build their data centers like that now.

      Each Facebook data center has multiple buildings on each site, at least at the three sites I am familiar with.

    • joules777 months ago
      He has to go on signaling to attract people (at this stage its mostly opportunists having a field day).
    • Melatonic7 months ago
      Lot of eggs to put in one basket. What happens if there is some type of natural disaster in the area?
  • MichaelRazum7 months ago
    Grok4 was trained on 100k or 200k GPUs (as far as I understand)

    Grok5 might need 1MM or 2MM.

    So the question is what about metas / zucks plans? How many GPUs will Manhattan get? Looks like, that to get the next unlock you need crazy amounts of compute.

    • jiggawatts7 months ago
      Meta had the equivalent of about 600K H100 cards a year ago, but they were geographically distributed and used mostly for inference.

      These giant data centres will allow these companies to put about a million in one location and possibly into a single giant training cluster.

  • quantified7 months ago
    The title is pure clickbait, Zuck didn't say that. "A significant part of the footprint" could be 2%.
    • tootie7 months ago
      https://www.threads.com/@zuck/post/DMF6tMAxkX8

      He has a little animation of the building overlayed on Manhattan. Looks like it would cover maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the land.

      • xg157 months ago
        According to that animation, it would also be taller than the Empire State Building across the entire area.
      • krunck7 months ago
        But, Oh the replies!
  • dmitrygr7 months ago
    How many elephants will it weigh? How many times faster than a cheetah will it be?
    • cosmicgadget7 months ago
      What is the compute power in metaflops???
  • syeare7 months ago
    Better make your own powerplant Unsurprising if they steal from the same source as taxpayers' electricity, get subsidized for it because "jobs" (that no one gets), finally resulting in raised bills for the rest
  • moneycantbuy7 months ago
    see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44562052

    basically zuck destroys the surrounding neighborhood without consequence.

  • lisbbb7 months ago
    If AI crap needs that much footprint I'm pretty sure it's just not worth it.
    • Tarsul7 months ago
      problem is that Big Tech has the money and wants to spend it. Maybe only a downturn can stop (or slow) this.
  • BoredPositron7 months ago
    Zuck is so reactive in everything and even as last mover he always misses. Would make me icky working for meta.
    • JumpCrisscross7 months ago
      > even as last mover he always misses

      Instagram. WhatsApp.

      • gorjusborg7 months ago
        He renamed his company Meta, as in metaverse.

        I understand you are responding to the 'always', but can we agree that at least his level of confidence in an idea isn't a great indicator?

      • xg157 months ago
        He bought those after they were already big. He can claim Facebook obviously, but not much else.
      • beAbU7 months ago
        He bought those, they were not built by meta.
      • 7 months ago
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      • BoredPositron7 months ago
        Talking about original ideas/ip.
        • JumpCrisscross7 months ago
          Isn’t the definition of last mover that it isn’t an original idea?
          • longfingers7 months ago
            Managing his own companies with copies of ideas hasn't gone very well for him AFA I remember, acquiring companies that are good in their field and not ruining them has been a talent compared to other Techs.
          • BoredPositron7 months ago
            They weren't last movers in both examples. They had a product, it failed to get a userbase... they bought the users.
    • 7 months ago
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  • seydor7 months ago
    i m not sure it's a good investment. As soon as ASI is invented, it will make the investment obsolete. Maybe i should sell my Meta stock.

    I find it ridiculous to think that we will be able to exploit ASI for our benefit. It's like a bunch of ants plotting to enslave and exploit humans.

    Also Elon is smarter - he s spending Saudi money instead of his own