Artificial intelligence relies on one of the most complex industrial systems ever built. From chip design and lithography to semiconductor manufacturing and hyperscale data centers, the global AI supply chain reveals how machine intelligence ultimately depends on materials, infrastructure and geopolitics.
Latest Articles
Independent reporting and analysis on how markets, technology and economic developments evolve across the United States and the global economy.
The Age of Light explores artificial intelligence beyond algorithms. By examining meaning, machines and the physics of computation, the book explains how chips, photonics, energy systems and infrastructure are shaping the future of intelligence in an increasingly physical digital world.
Artificial intelligence is often described as a software revolution, but beneath the algorithms lies a deeper transformation. From chips and photonics to energy systems and infrastructure, the future of intelligence is increasingly shaped by physics and the physical architecture of computing.
Artificial intelligence is scaling rapidly, but the next bottleneck may not be chips or networks. As hyperscale data centers expand, electricity supply, grid capacity and energy infrastructure are emerging as critical factors in the global race to power the AI era.
As AI systems scale to thousands of processors, the challenge is shifting from computing power to data movement. From Silicon Valley to Eindhoven, a new generation of photonic chips—using light instead of electricity—could become the backbone of future AI data center infrastructure.
As artificial intelligence pushes data centers to unprecedented scale, the real bottleneck is shifting from compute to connectivity. Silicon photonics—using light instead of electricity—could redefine how AI systems move data, enabling the ultra-fast networks required for the next generation of hyperscale infrastructure.
