The AI hardware race is heating up, and NVIDIA is still far ahead. What will it take to close the gap?

In this episode, Dylan Patel (Founder & CEO, SemiAnalysis) joins Erin Price-Wright (General Partner, a16z), Guido Appenzeller (Partner, a16z), and host Erik Torenberg to break down the state of AI chips, data centers, and infrastructure strategy.

We discuss:

Why simply copying NVIDIA won’t work, and what it takes to beat them
How custom silicon from Google, Amazon, and Meta could reshape the market
The economics of AI model launches and the shift toward cost efficiency
Infrastructure bottlenecks: power, cooling, and the global supply chain
The rise of AI silicon startups and the challenges they face
Export controls, China’s AI ambitions, and geopolitics in the chip race
Big tech’s next moves: advice for leaders like Jensen Huang, Sundar Pichai, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk

Resources:

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Dylan Patel: GPT-5, NVIDIA, Intel, Meta, Apple