> however, the core infrastructural asset of GPUs tends to become rapidly obsolete after about 5 years.

Is it all about the actual GPUs though, is that the only "infrastructure" being built? A list from the top of my head of things that I'd say do last:

1. Data center buildings (take a while to build, contents completely aside).

2. Organisations and processes for running operations and procurement in said data centers - doesn't take decades to build for sure, but it's something worthwhile to already have.

3. Advances in the actual chips, i.e. more powerful processing units.

4. Advances in chip fabrication.

5. Chip fabrication facilities and organisations (similar to #1 and #2).

So sure, GPUs are highly temporary. But a lot of the things being developed and built around them much less so.

I do think one possible bubble burst scenario is that we'll have cheap compute available for decades but not a lot of great ideas of what to do with it. That is not unlike the 2000s I suppose.

Consider the second order effects of building all those data centers.

The GPU hardware rots and becomes obsolete in a matter of years, but the national infrastructure required to support the physical sites isn't going away. Things such as...

- improved power distribution networks

- logistics arrangements to build and support the DC sites

- lots and lots of new fibre interconnects to support the massive bandwidth needs

- hopefully: better power delivery planning laws

- plumbing infrastructure, because all that hardware requires cooling

Some of the DC sites will be decommissioned from their initial use, but given the physical security requirements, might morph into handy higher-security industrial facilities with only small repurposing. Such reuse cases would especially benefit from improved logistics (see above).