Power and manufacturing bottlenecks in the AI chip buildout

a16z says its discussion with former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger examined how AI could transform chip design, even as manufacturing, memory bandwidth, advanced packaging and power remain constraints. Gelsinger argues that U.S. energy capacity was essentially flat for 10 to 15 years and warns that data centers need enough power to run their GPUs. The discussion also considers whether specialized AI chips might consolidate around fewer architectures.