Broadcom CEO Warns: Capital Is Replacing Chips and Power as the Biggest Bottleneck for AI Development

Beating AI News Flash: Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said at the DBS Asia Future Forward conference in Singapore that capital is replacing chips, storage, and power supply as the biggest constraint on the AI industry's development. He warned that many AI investors do not understand the technology they are betting on, yet expect high returns, making their investment behavior akin to gambling in a casino.

Tan cited OpenAI as an example, noting that the company's annualized revenue had reached $50 billion by September, but high model training costs still keep it in a loss-making state, and revenue growth does not mean the business model has been validated. He also predicted that the wafer shortage may improve between 2028 and 2029, and power supply is also expected to gradually ease as new infrastructure comes online.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan also said that rising financing costs and uncertainty over investment returns are becoming core challenges for the AI industry. Although both believe computing power demand will remain strong over the next two to three years, Tan warned that if the application progress of advanced AI models falls short of expectations, or if improvements in model capabilities hit a bottleneck, demand for computing power infrastructure could slow markedly.