Jensen Huang: "Trillions More Needed for AI Infrastructure... Not a Bubble"

AI Infrastructure Compared to a "Five-Layer Cake"
"Job Creation Will Increase"

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, has projected that several trillion dollars in additional investment will be needed to build out artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

According to Bloomberg and other sources on January 21 (local time), CEO Huang stated during a conversation with Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, that “the AI boom has triggered the largest infrastructure buildout in human history.” He added, “Hundreds of billions of dollars have already been invested, but several trillion dollars more will be needed to expand the infrastructure.”

He identified areas of AI infrastructure requiring investment, including energy, chip and computing infrastructure, cloud data centers, AI models, and applications (apps), likening the structure to a “five-layer cake” built from the bottom up. He emphasized that this structure would create jobs across the entire economy, from construction and manufacturing to software, as AI development progresses.

CEO Huang predicted that, due to demand for data center construction, plumbers, electricians, and construction workers could earn annual salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. He noted that the greatest economic benefit would likely come from AI software applications, which sit at the top layer.

He dismissed concerns about an “AI bubble” raised by some, explaining, “The talk of an AI bubble arises because the scale of investment is so large, and the reason for such a large investment is the need to build AI infrastructure across five layers.” He added, “I believe this opportunity is truly special.” He also asserted that “AI is an essential national infrastructure,” and that every country should treat AI as they would electricity or roads.

CEO Huang noted that AI could offer developing countries an opportunity to narrow the technology gap with advanced nations, but stressed that “AI literacy”-education on how to utilize AI-will be necessary to take full advantage of this opportunity.

Bloomberg reported that, despite Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s criticism the previous day-comparing the sale of Nvidia chips to China to selling nuclear weapons to North Korea-moderator Larry Fink deliberately avoided sensitive questions about China during the session.