Bits & Atomen Google investeert 5 miljard in ons land. Maar is dat nog veel vandaag de dag?
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Oct 17, 2025 Stijn Decock, an economy journalist at De Standaard, dives into Google’s striking €5 billion commitment to data centers in Belgium. He compares this local investment to the larger global tech landscape. Stijn discusses the competitive race for AI compute resources and the circular financing models driving it, reminiscent of the dot-com boom. He also critiques the economic viability of massive AI infrastructure, touching on Tesla’s challenges and even how ancient moai statues from Easter Island might have been moved. It's a fascinating mix of tech, economy, and history!
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Local Scale Versus Global AI Arms Race
- Google’s €5 billion in Belgian AI infrastructure is huge locally but modest globally against US data‑centre spending.
- Stijn Decock highlights a global arms race where compute and gigawatt demand define AI leadership.
Compute Wins: The New Primary Competitive Moat
- AI competition resembles past tech wars where the deepest pockets secure market dominance through capacity expansion.
- Stijn warns the scale and cost now eclipse prior races, making outcomes uncertain despite high spending.
Circular Financing Fuels Rapid AI Build-Out
- Companies use circular financing where suppliers (like Nvidia) invest into clients (like OpenAI) to fund massive capacity.
- This loop reduces upfront costs but raises systemic concentration and risk, echoing past tech cycles.