AI Is Drying Up Computing Power

Summary

WSJ Tech News Briefing — "AI Is Drying Up Computing Power"

Date: April 14, 2026
Host: Bell Lin, The Wall Street Journal
Featured Guests: Patrick George (WSJ Detroit Bureau Chief), Robbie Whelan (WSJ Reporter)

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Episode Overview

This episode explores two core tech industry stories:

1. The impact of surging gas prices (linked to the ongoing Iran war) on consumer behavior and the electric vehicle (EV) market, including shifting preferences and manufacturer responses.
2. The escalating demand for artificial intelligence (AI) computing power, leading to higher prices, product outages, and how the AI sector is grappling with these resource constraints.

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1. Gas Prices and Electric Vehicle (EV) Market Shifts

Key Points:

• Gas prices break $4/gallon: Consumer interest in EVs is rising, partially as a hedge against unpredictable fuel costs.
• Used EV sales surge: Up 12% in Q1 per Cox Automotive, signaling shifting buyer behavior.
• EVs as a strategic household choice: Increasingly, families retain one gas car and add an EV for commuting.

Barriers to Switching to EVs

• Range anxiety & unfamiliarity: "This is a new technology. Still, a lot of people have anxiety about range or misconceptions." — Patrick George (02:31)
• Infrastructure challenges: Home charging is easy for some, but public charging is still patchy and varies dramatically by location.

Notable Quotes & Segments

• [01:33] Patrick George:
  "I'm not 100% convinced that their minds are completely changing, but the data we've seen and everyone that we've talked to indicates that they're considering electric vehicles more and more, maybe taking more of a look at them than they probably have in months... the obvious reason behind that, which is skyrocketing gas prices."
• [03:01] Patrick George (on blending EVs and gas cars):
  "A lot of folks are looking at making an EV the second part of their two car household. And the EV is the commuter car ... And then on the weekends, if you need to go to the mountains ... that's where the gas car or the hybrid comes in."
• [03:31] Patrick George (on automaker strategies):
  "There's a few automakers that have kept up their EV investments like Hyundai, and they're reaping the benefits of this. Now, Toyota has been really late to the game ... but it's brought several more to market just this year ... But largely the industry dialed back its EV investments in America to focus on more profitable gas cars."
• [04:10] Patrick George:
  "Most of the automakers we've interviewed and talked to say they're riding this out and seeing where it goes. It's a very costly endeavor to shift production..."

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2. AI Boom Meets Computing Power Crunch

Key Points:

• Soaring demand: Users of powerful AI agents/tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude Code) are causing a squeeze on available computing "firepower."
• Rising costs: Data center operators (the "Neo clouds") are raising prices for compute as chip costs escalate.
• Service interruptions: Users and startups face outages and forced migration to less-preferred AI tools due to capacity limits.
• AI companies prioritize products: With finite resources, OpenAI, Anthropic, and others are making tough calls on what gets supported or sunsetted.

Real-World Consequences

• Disrupted workflows:
  "We spoke to a gentleman who ... loves using Anthropic's Opus 4.6 tool ... because there have been so many stoppages ... he's had to shift to other models. He's using OpenAI a lot more than he used to..." — Robbie Whelan (07:29)
• Pace of innovation slows:
  AI’s much-touted business revolution may stall unless infrastructure (chips, data centers) catches up with demand.

Notable Quotes & Segments

• [06:13] Robbie Whelan (on why compute costs rise):
  "The prices for the chips that produce this computing power have really risen dramatically in the last six months ... when demand goes through the roof, you have to raise prices."
• [08:50] Robbie Whelan (on product prioritization):
  "The most notable example of that is what OpenAI did with its Sora video generation platform ... OpenAI basically decided that that tool was not their top priority. Their top priority is competing in the agentic coding space ... they basically just ended this project of Sora ... and it only lasted six months. So we've got dramatic decisions being taken ..."
• [09:57] Robbie Whelan (on solutions):
  "There's going to be some developments in the semiconductor industry. There's a lot of startups right now... more efficient chips ... for the short term ... consumers and businesses ... are just going to have to live with the reality ... these harsh trade offs for the next year or two, probably."

Prominent Timestamps

• 05:27 — The segment on the AI compute crunch begins.
• 06:13 — Why compute prices are rising.
• 07:29 — Real-world consequences for developers and businesses.
• 08:50 — Example of OpenAI dropping Sora due to resource allocation.
• 09:57 — Long-term and short-term possible solutions.

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Memorable Moments

• OpenAI Sunsetted Sora: "[Sora] only lasted six months... OpenAI basically decided that that tool was not their top priority." (08:50, Robbie Whelan)
• Hybrid Vehicle Households on the Rise: "[A] lot of folks are looking at making an EV the second part of their two car household... So a lot of folks in America are kind of seeing the value of using both." (03:01, Patrick George)

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Episode Tone

• Analytical and measured, with a critical look at both tech optimism ("the AI revolution") and the inertia in consumer and corporate behavior (slow EV adoption, conservative automaker strategies).
• Realistic about short-term pain: resource bottlenecks, capacity constraints, and gradual market shifts.

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Conclusion

This episode highlights how external shocks (like high gas prices and surging AI usage) are rapidly shifting consumer behavior and straining technical infrastructure. Both the EV market and the AI sector face hurdles: skepticism, slow infrastructure rollout, capacity bottlenecks, and hard choices among suppliers and users alike. The hosts and guests present a nuanced, data-rich picture of these challenges, underscoring that real transformation often advances more slowly—and less smoothly—than headline promises might suggest.

Transcript

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[Bell Lin]

Welcome to Tech News briefing. It's Tuesday, April 14th. I'm Bell Lin for the Wall Street Journal. Higher prices at the pump are changing consumer behavior. Gas prices reaching over $4 a gallon amid the Iran war, some households are rethinking their gas guzzling vehicles. And that could be a sign of good news for the sluggish EV sector. Then the AI gold rush is rapidly drawing up the supply of one. Resource developers can't do without computing power. And that's leading some AI companies to take drastic measures. But first, although sales of new EVs remain low in the second Trump administration, things are beginning to change. Used EV sales jumped 12% in the first quarter, according to Cox. Automotive and car shopping platforms like Cars.com and Edmunds say they've seen an uptick in EV interest recently. WSJ Detroit Bureau Chief Patrick George joins us now to discuss why pain at the pump has some buyers thinking differently and if it will last. So, Patrick, consumers minds are changing about EVs. Now why is that?

[Patrick George]

I'm not 100% convinced that their minds are completely changing, but the data we've seen and everyone that we've talked to indicates that they're considering electric vehicles more and more, maybe taking more of a look at them than they probably have in months. And we see the obvious reason behind that, which is skyrocketing gas prices. Most people realize that buying an electric vehicle really shouldn't be looked at as purely a cost savings measure. You're talking about buying the car, in some cases a higher premium that a gas car would have. But at the end of the day, you're kind of immune to a lot of the gas spikes that we're seeing right now. And you know, some folks are looking at this and saying, okay, well, maybe gas will calm down a little bit, but if I get a car that runs on electricity, you know, the next time this happens, I might not be as affected.

[Bell Lin]

One of the other things to consider is that gas powered cars are very sticky. In other words, Americans are sometimes hesitant to switch over to EVs. Why is that the case? Even with the higher gas prices, this

[Patrick George]

is a new technology. Still, a lot of people have anxiety about range or misconceptions. They haven't really had seat time in an electric vehicle. And it's definitely an infrastructure challenge. You know, this is a very easy existence if you could charge easily at home. But finding access to a charger can still be tough. And America's EV infrastructure has gotten tremendously better in even just the last year. But that's not happening evenly everywhere, and certainly not everyone has seen that yet.

[Bell Lin]

And how have some consumers adjusted to living with both gas powered cars and EVs?

[Patrick George]

We had an interesting interview with Jose Munoz, who is the CEO of Hyundai Motor. And he was saying out in California especially, you know, a lot of folks are looking at making an EV the second part of their two car household. And the EV is the commuter car, just driving to the office, sitting an hour in traffic or what have you. And then on the weekends, if you need to go to the mountains or go on a longer road trip, go see family. That's where the gas car or the hybrid comes in. So a lot of folks in America are kind of seeing the value of using both.

[Bell Lin]

How are some carmakers responding to consumers changing preferences?

[Patrick George]

The fair answer is to say not at all. There's a few automakers that have kept up their EV investments like Hyundai, and they're reaping the benefits of this. Now, Toyota has been really late to the game in electric vehicles, but it's brought several more to market just this year, and they're seeing some strong sales around those. But largely the industry dialed back its EV investments in America to focus on more profitable gas cars. And that's a trend that we're not gonna see reversed really anytime soon. It would take months and maybe a year plus of prolonged gas spikes before we're going to see decisions made on products here.

[Bell Lin]

So it's safe to say that some carmakers are not ready for an EV boom.

[Patrick George]

Most of the automakers we've interviewed and talked to say they're riding this out and seeing where it goes. It's a very costly endeavor to shift production and to shift your product plans in the future. And it's tough to do that when you have these potentially flash in the pan moments like the conflict in Iran,

[Bell Lin]

hopefully is that was WSJ Detroit Bureau Chief Patrick George. Do gas prices have you rethinking EVs for yourself? If you're a listener on Spotify, be sure to leave us a comment with your thoughts. Coming up, demand for agentic AI is exploding and companies are scrambling to secure the computing capacity needed to serve their rapidly expanding customer base. We discuss how that's impacting the AI boom. After the break.

[Alex Osola]

Hi, this is Alex Osola, host of the WSJ's what's News podcast. We bring you the biggest news of the day, from business and finance to global and political developments that move markets. If you're looking for more insights and tools to understand the latest headlines, consider becoming a subscriber to the Wall street journal. Visit subscribe.WSJ.com whatsnews to subscribe now.

[Bell Lin]

If you've ever used an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or an AI agent system like Claude Code, you may be part of a population of AI users who are contributing to a shortfall in computing firepower. And that shortfall is happening fast, with consequences for AI companies and people who use a lot of AI. Companies like OpenAI and Anthropic have been racing to get the computing power needed to serve a base of customers who are significantly increasing their AI usage. And at the same time, prices for compute are going up. WSJ reporter Robbie Whelan is with us now to talk about this computing crunch and how it's affecting both AI companies and power users. Robbie, why are prices for compute going up?

[Robbie Whelan]

The prices for the chips that produce this computing power have really risen dramatically in the last six months or so. We have reports from what are called the Neo clouds and the cloud service providers. These are the companies that basically run the data centers that are filled with these powerful AI computer chips. Those companies, those middlemen, are raising prices really sharply on customers. So the data center companies are having to pay more for the chips and then having to charge more by the hour to rent the power that those chips produce out to end users, to people who are designing AI tools and using them and querying them and using them for business as well. There's two reasons why this is happening. One is just a simple supply and demand equation, right? When demand goes through the roof, you have to raise prices. And the other one is just that some of these companies, for example Anthropic and OpenAI, just simply don't have enough compute to serve everyone who wants to use their products. And so they've got to sort of limit it, dole it out in a way that might feel unfair to some users, but basically they have to prioritize certain users ahead of others. And what that generally means in practice is asking them to pay more.

[Bell Lin]

And what are some of the consequences for real world people for everyday developers of this compute shortage?

[Robbie Whelan]

We've talked to people who have had to shift away from their favorite AI tools. For example, we spoke to a Gentleman who is a founder of a company that uses coding all the time. He loves using Anthropic's Opus 4.6 tool to create agents that he needs for his business. But because there have been so many stoppages, outages on Anthropic because of the lack of computing power that we're seeing in the market right now, he's had to shift to other models. He's using OpenAI a lot more than he used to because his preferred tool from Anthropic is really suffering from this supply crunch that we're seeing. So that's one type of consequence. Another consequence is just that maybe the revolution that AI is supposedly going to cause in the business world especially is going to proceed a little bit more slowly than we initially thought. Because obviously if you can't find the resources and build out the infrastructure needed to totally transform so many different parts of industry around the world, then you're going to have to maybe just take it a little more slowly and we might see things slow down a little bit until we can allow the infrastructure piece of it to catch up to the demand piece.

[Bell Lin]

Speaking of taking things more slowly and OpenAI and Anthropic, have they changed maybe the cadence at which they release products or held back on certain products because of this shortage?

[Robbie Whelan]

The most notable example of that is what OpenAI did with its Sora video generation platform. We saw about a month ago that OpenAI had basically ended this product, Sora, which people were using to make really fun videos and you could insert yourself into an action movie and make a little one minute clip. And OpenAI basically decided that that tool was not their top priority. Their top priority is competing in the agentic coding space. So they have a tool called Codex that they're concentrating on a lot more. And they basically just ended this project of Sora, which was a really, a lot of consumers thought was a really cool product. A lot of businesses and especially in the entertainment industry were excited about it and it only lasted six months. So we've got dramatic decisions being taken by companies like OpenAI to prioritize the type of computing tasks that they think are going to be most profitable in the long run that are going to be most widely used by customers. They're really having to make some hard decisions and trade offs about what to focus on.

[Bell Lin]

So how do we solve for this computing shortfall? What are some possible solutions further down the line?

[Robbie Whelan]

There's going to be some developments in the semiconductor industry. There's a lot of startups right now that are working on trying to develop more efficient chips. So in other words, the chips that you use to train a big AI model are not going to be the same ones you use to run it down the line. That's sort of a long term solution for the short term. A lot of consumers and a lot of businesses in this space are just going to have to live with the reality that you can't put up a data center immediately. The reality they're going to be facing these harsh trade offs for the next year or two, probably.

[Bell Lin]

That was WSJ reporter Robbie Whelan. And that's it for Tech NEWS briefing. If you're a listener on Spotify, be sure to leave us a comment. Today's show was produced by Julie Chang with supervising producer Katie Ferguson logging off. I'm Bell Lynn for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back later this morning with TNB Tech Minute. Thanks for listening.

[Robbie Whelan]

Foreign.

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Hey, this is Telus Demos and I'm Miriam Gottfried.

[Bell Lin]

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[Bell Lin]

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