TWS #009: AI's Energy Cost; Apple Falling Behind; Heard of Xiaomi?; VC's New AI Strategy, Strange Metals
and much more...
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Did you know...
YouTube was initially conceived in early 2005 under the name "Tune In, Hook Up." The core idea was to create a platform where users could upload videos of themselves introducing themselves and describing what they were looking for in a partner (awkward!). The founders felt that online dating at the time was too static and text-based. They believed that video would offer a better and authentic way for people to showcase themselves and assess potential matches. The idea was that seeing someone talk and express themselves would give a much better sense of their personality than a few photos and a written profile. I guess they weren’t far off from what we see as Tinder and all the other dating apps today. Maybe the market wasn’t ready for it yet. But recognizing the failure of the dating concept, the founders made a critical decision to pivot. They realized that the underlying tech they had built for uploading, sharing, and viewing videos could be used for any type of video content, not just dating profiles. The domain name
youtube.comwas registered on February 14, 2005. The rest is history 🚀
Here’s this week’s scoop:
The Hidden Energy Cost of AI
Is Apple falling behind?
Xioami is building its own chips
VC’s new AI strategy
AI video is now legit
YouTube’s interesting fault tolerance for revenue
Nerd alert: Discovery of new Strange metals
and much more…
Let’s dive in.
🔥 Nuggets for the Road
The push-and-pull between Engineers and AI: Ramblings of a small startup founder [LINK]
How Data Travels in F1 [LINK]
How to Design a Viral Loop for your Startup [ANDREW CHEN, HACKERNOON]
A wave of new owners brings fresh energy to independent bookselling [AP]
📝 Essay: Why Every Builder Should Write From Day One
If you’re a builder or thinking about becoming one, your ability to write could be the difference between success and failure.
I don’t mean writing novels, essays, or books, but I’m talking about the kind of writing that gets things done: persuading emails, pitches that sell, notes that clarify, and a diary that makes you appreciate how far you’ve grown.
If you’re an entrepreneur, engineer, designer, or anyone who is creating something from nothing, I truly believe that writing should no longer be optional. It’s now essential, and you should start from the very beginning if you can.
Here are a few reasons why I think writing is a non-negotiable skill for builders…
READ FULL POST BELOW 👇
📡 The Signal
The Hidden Energy Cost of AI
We used to have stable data center energy use from 2005 to 2017, but ever since, AI’s computational intensity has driven unprecedented electricity consumption. This energy demand, often powered by a fossil fuel-heavy grid, translates to significant carbon emissions. Plus, the lack of transparency from AI companies about their energy and emissions data complicates accountability. There’s also the classic innovator’s dilemma: the same technology that could solve climate challenges could be making it worse due to this massive, unchecked growth. The three huge pushes behind this include: OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate initiative for up to 10 data centers, each potentially consuming 5GW, Apple’s $500 billion plan for U.S. data centers, and Google’s $75 billion AI infrastructure budget for 2025. It’s clear that using models like ChatGPT, Gemini, Llama to ask questions, make videos, etc., is using more energy than traditional searches. [MIT]
“ChatGPT is now estimated to be the fifth-most visited website in the world, just after Instagram and ahead of X. In December, OpenAI said that ChatGPT receives 1 billion messages every day, and after the company launched a new image generator in March, it said that people were using it to generate 78 million images per day, from Studio Ghibli–style portraits to pictures of themselves as Barbie dolls.”
The visual shows many more new data centers coming online. There’s a big push in the Midwest and the East of the country.
What’s the Deal with Apple and AI?
Apple has been struggling BIG TIME with their AI efforts, particularly with Apple Intelligence and Siri. Basically, when ChatGPT exploded onto the scene in 2022, Apple was unprepared, having no concrete plans for its own generative AI roadmap. This led to a rushed development of Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI features meant to enhance iPhones, including email rewriting, notification summaries, and photo editing. But, integrating these with Siri’s outdated code base didn’t turn out so great, resulting in buggy features and delayed launches. Apple is now pivoting to open its AI models to third-party developers via a software development kit, aiming to help spark innovation and catch up with rivals like OpenAI and Google. Allowing third-party devs to tap its AI models is a bold departure from its walled garden. This could spark a wave of creative apps. This whole saga just shows a rare vulnerability for a company known for its innovation. [BLOOMBERG]
Xiaomi Becomes a Chip Builder
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi is making a huge move by investing 50 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) over the next decade to develop its own smartphone chips, starting in 2025. Since 2021, Xiaomi has invested 13.5 billion yuan ($1.87 billion) and built a team of over 2,500 engineers to revive its “chip dream.” This basically aligns with China’s push for technological self-reliance amid U.S.-China trade tensions, which have restricted access to advanced semiconductors (especially from Nvidia). Xiaomi is working with TSMC to help them produce this chip — Qualcomm currently is the chip supplier for Xiaomi. We’ll see how this pans out. If you haven’t heard of Xiaomi, they’re known for producing smartphones, EVs, and other smart devices. They are extremely popular in countries like China and India. [CNBC]
If you want a deeper dive into the inner workings of chip design and manufacturing, you should read this: Why Taiwan Builds All the Chips
Venture Capital’s New AI Strategy
Venture Capital is going through some interesting shifts. VC firms like Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, and Thrive Capital are acquiring mature, traditional businesses like call centers, accounting firms, and infusing them with AI. This approach, dubbed "AI-infused roll-ups," is comparable to private equity tactics. Instead of betting on early startups, VCs are buying established companies with steady cash flows and customer bases, then using AI to streamline operations, cut costs, and expand reach. For e.g., a call center might integrate AI chatbots and predictive analytics to handle more inquiries with fewer staff, boosting efficiency and profitability. Some VCs plan to partner with private equity firms for M&A expertise rather than building in-house teams. It flips the traditional VC model—rather than chasing disruptive startups, firms are modernizing “boring” businesses with AI to unlock exponential value. By combining stable revenue streams with tech, VCs could create a new asset class that balances predictability with growth. This could also amplify the impact of AI startups by giving them access to large markets. [TECHCRUNCH]
Strange Metals Redefine Electricity’s Flow
This one is a bit technical, but bear with me. The Vienna University of Technology has done experiments on a compound of ytterbium, rhodium, and silicon, cooled to near absolute zero in a highly controlled environment. Unlike typical metals, where electrons (the particles that give way to electricity) move as discrete particles, the compounds of these strange metals show a bizarre phenomenon: electrons seem to lose their individuality, behaving like a diffuse, amorphous soup. This is shown by their electrical resistance, which increases linearly with temperature, unlike the non-linear rise in normal metals, and their ability to become high-temperature superconductors at relatively warmer conditions than conventional superconductors. The fact that something like this exists means that it could unlock room-temperature superconductivity, disrupting technologies like power grids and transportation (like the Maglev high-speed rail trains). [SCIENCE]
AI Video Becoming More Real Than We Could Imagine
AI video has come a long way. Every few weeks for the past year, new advancements have been made to this space, but I’ve never felt the excitement of sharing its progress until now. This is a cool video from the Wall Street Journal where they designed and “filmed’ a full-length video using AI exclusively. The quality looks incredibly impressive given the budget and time limits. There are still nuances to be ironed out, but overall, it clearly shows how far AI video has come in just a few years! Definitely worth a watch — only 7 mins.
YouTube: Google’s Cash Cow
Most people think that YouTube’s revenue comes only from advertising. This couldn’t be further from the truth. YouTube, and by extension, Google, have developed an entire ecosystem for generating cash flow. They’ve deliberately integrated fault tolerance into their revenue streams — this is how they have been able to win and dominate for so long. I think startups can gain a lot from this visual, simply by considering how their product can grow and generate diverse streams of revenue over time.
Global Population Growth Slows
Population growth appears to be slowing faster than initially thought. Projections have our population peaking at 10 billion by the 2060s before declining. Wealthier nations like Japan, where populations are already shrinking (losing 100 people hourly), and regions like Europe and East Asia, with falling fertility rates, are leading the trend. Even middle- and lower-income countries are seeing declines, driven by increased education, urbanization, and access to contraception. BUT, Sub-Saharan Africa remains an outlier, with higher fertility rates, but even there, education is reducing birth rates (e.g., in Ethiopia, eight years of schooling cuts fertility by 53%). The rapid decline in fertility rates, especially in high-income nations, signals a cultural shift, where people are prioritizing quality of life over larger families, amplified by economic pressures and gender equity. [LINK]
By the end of the century, China is projected to have two-thirds fewer people than today’s 1.4 billion. The sudden drop is due to the long tail of the One Child Policy, which ended in 2016, too late to avert the fall. Japan was once the world’s 11th most populated country, but is expected to halve before the end of the century.
🧐 Trivia of the Week
Last week’s question: What significant technological advancement did Intel introduce in 1971?
Answer: The microprocessor — Intel 4004. The invention integrated the functions of a CPU onto a single silicon chip. Initially developed for a Japanese calculator company, Busicom, the chip paved the way for personal computers and the widespread integration of microprocessors into countless devices, revolutionizing the electronics industry.
This week’s trivia:
The answer will be provided in next week’s newsletter.
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Barry.
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