Data Center Infrastructure and Operating Costs are Projected to Increase by Over $76 Billion by 2028
Updated image: This comparison between ChatGPT 3.5 vs vicuna-13B has been improved for easier reading.
The launch of Large Language Models for Generative Artificial Intelligence, or GenAI, has captivated the world and made it more aware of the potential for AI. GenAI is capable of achieving many feats, including the ability to have a conversation, write software code, and pass a test. But these are just the beginning. This innovative ability comes at a cost, both in terms of power consumption and processing performance. While the potential of AI is limitless, costs and physics may ultimately set the limits.
Tirias Research predicts that if the current path continues, the generative AI server infrastructure and operating costs combined will surpass $76 billion in 2028. This growth will challenge the business models and profitability for emerging services, such as search and content creation and business automation, which incorporate GenAI. This cost is approximately twice as much as the estimated annual cost of Amazon AWS’ cloud service, which holds a third of the market for cloud infrastructure services according to Tirias Research. The forecast includes a 4X improvement in compute hardware performance. However, this is outweighed by a 50X growth in processing workloads. This is despite rapid innovation in inference algorithms. The neural networks (NNs), which are designed to be run at large scale, will become even more optimized over time and continue to improve. This will increase the capacity of each server. This improvement is offset by increased usage, more demanding scenarios, and sophisticated models with orders-of-magnitude more parameters. GenAI’s cost and scale will require innovation to optimize NNs, and it is likely that the computing load from data centers will be shifted to client devices such as PCs and smartphones.
Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tiriasresearch/2023/05/12/generative-ai-breaks-the-data-center-data-center-infrastructure-and-operating-costs-projected-to-increase-to-over-76-billion-by-2028/?sh=36164d4b7c15
