USA - 100 billion for a supercomputer, what about Lithuania?

  "A few weeks ago, Microsoft and OpenAI announced a huge $100 billion investment in one (!) supercomputer for artificial intelligence (AI) data processing. This is slightly less than the combined GDP of Lithuania and Estonia. And this 100 billion is part of OpenAI's $7 trillion plan.These and other companies investing in AI expect to earn multiple times their investment.

 

    

 

     Our problem - Lithuania and the entire European Union (EU) - is that the market has already been consolidated by the USA and the People's Republic of China. And this is evident by observing how the AI regulatory act was hastily introduced in Brussels. At the time of writing, I found only one AI startup with a unicorn valuation in Europe, Mistral from France. There are dozens of such in the US, not to mention the internal AI projects of giants such as Tesla, Google, Oracle or Amazon. The players who have consolidated the market will dictate the conditions for us. Their future income and profits are the rent we will have to pay them on their capital.

 

    

 

     If we do choose not to use or heavily regulate AI to avoid rent, we will not be able to participate effectively in future economic relationships. By regulating AI and not creating it at the same time, we will resemble the 19th century's Luddites, who smashed the industrial machines of the time in order to save jobs. As then, we will be outcompeted by those who introduce new technologies.

 

    

 

     And if we only pay rent for AI, we will still be dependent on AI managers and not create as much value as we could. A natural question arises: how could Lithuania collect rent in the AI industry?

 

    

 

     The AI industry today consists of three main components: 1. AI software; 2. AI technical equipment; 3. Energy is required for AI data processing centers.

 

    

 

     I have to inform you - Lithuania was late in creating the first two components. We, and at the same time the EU, did not invest in the field of STEM science in our time, did not create our Silicon Valley. Unfortunately, there is little chance that there will be Lithuanian startups capable of attracting mass capital and creating essential AI products. With AI hardware as well - there is not a single company in Lithuania that is able to create critical added value to the already existing Nvidia, TSMC or ASML products.

 

    

 

     Energy sources and the data processing centers built next to them - supercomputers - are the last chance for Lithuania to join the AI industry. The need is clear - according to the calculations of the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centers in 2026 consumption of 1000 terawatt hours of energy. This is twice as much as in 2022, the same as Japan's consumption, or 90 times more than Lithuania's consumption in 2023.

 

    

 

     Lithuania has a lot to offer. While the data center and energy developers in Germany are waiting for building permits, here we can build data centers and their energy sources on concrete foundations. We have a well-developed fiber optic bus network connecting us with Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany. If necessary, we will build new highways. We are close to key AI consumer markets.

 

    

 

     In our country, the wind generates the same watts as in Germany. And I will announce the news to many - Lithuania has the best geothermal anomaly in Eastern Europe, which we can overcome with modern technologies. According to various calculations, we have unused 2-8 gigawatts of power under our feet in Western Lithuania. By combining wind, energy storage and geothermal, we can provide AI data centers with uninterrupted, non-polluting energy, cheaply and quickly. These are the main four elements without which the big players - Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Amazon - will not pay attention to us.

 

    

 

     In Lithuania, public and private companies are already developing several gigawatt wind, solar and energy storage projects. We are going in the right direction. We just need to significantly increase our ambitions - to engage the minds of Lithuania in this direction and to actively promote our country to the big AI players. If the right conditions are created, Lithuania will be the base of AI infrastructure and at the same time the physical gateway of AI products to the EU. Without Lithuania, the development of the AI industry in the EU will not be as fast and efficient. And so we will become part of Sam Altman's $7 trillion plan.

 

    

 

      The author of the comment is Simonas Valadkevičius, CEO of Lavastream"

 

 

Do not disturb our work. We will make 19th century artillery shells with your tax money. We will send our most talented instigators of conflicts and other disasters (Grybauskaitė, Landsbergiai, Nausėda, Kasčiūnas, Anušauskas) to Africa, sell those shells there, and hide the money in private accounts offshore. Don't make the world laugh with your wind and farts.