You can now buy 128 GB unified memory computers from AMD as commodity.

They’re still pricey, the world is still scaling up memory production, and a lot of code isn’t yet built for AMD, but we went from the Wright’s brothers first airplane to jet engines in 27 years.

I’m not sure “it’s only a few years away” but we are sure moving there fast.

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nine_k 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> first airplane to jet engines in 27 years.

Nitpick: more like 36 years, from Wright Flyer in 1903 to Heinkel 178 in 1939. Still quite impressive.

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Traubenfuchs 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I believe the same thing but keep repeating the question: Then what are all the datacenters for?

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moregrist 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Non-cynically: the frontier providers have a projection for demand.

Cynically: it’s become an executive-level gpu measuring contest. If you’re not making huge commitments on data centers, you can’t be a serious player.

Realistically: It’s a mix of the two. The recent Claude caps for agentic usage suggest that demand exceeded their immediate compute supply. That they can alleviate it with additional capacity from the existing and small-ish xAI facility suggests that either demand may not be rising quite as fast as anticipated, that they’re okay in the short term until more capacity comes online, or a mix of both.

Open questions:

1. At what price point does demand fall, and are the frontier providers overall profitable before that price point?

2. At what price/performance point do on-prem local models make more sense than cloud models?

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harrall 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I print documents and photos at home regularly but I still contract out to dedicated print shops.

The print shop can’t replicate the practicality of local printing and I can’t replicate their scale of investment. Both coexist perfectly.

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nnoremap 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Print-outs are a physical good. Tokens aren't.

	▲	bluGill an hour ago \| parent [-]
		They are both fungible. You can replace one with the other.

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chris_money202 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Agents