AI data centers have a branding problem, according to venture capitalist Gavin Baker.
Baker is a longtime tech investor. He serves as managing partner and chief investment officer at the hedge fund Atreides Management, which has invested in multiple data center-related companies, such as Crusoe. On “The A16z Show,” he made the case for data centers, which have proven highly controversial in the US.
“It’s probably the best thing that has ever happened to working-class Americans,” Baker said. “It is revitalizing all of these dying small towns all over America.”
Baker said that a college degree was becoming “significantly NPV negative” — or negative in net present value — because young people can become electricians, plumbers, and HVAC techs instead. Those blue-collar jobs make “ungodly amounts of money” amid the AI boom, he said.
An anti-college fever is sweeping through tech. One data center electrician told Business Insider that he skipped out on an undergraduate degree — and now earns $40 an hour.
Then there are the environmental concerns with data centers, from electricity usage to water consumption. Baker said that tech was “getting much better” at addressing these issues.
Data centers are “really, really, really good, and they’re having a positive impact on the world,” he said.
“We are re-industrializing America. And it’s awesome,” Baker said. “This is what everyone in both parties has wanted for a long time.”
Baker has also advocated for data centers on X. He wrote on Saturday that “any politician opposed to data centers is unqualified to hold public office.”
He clarified on Sunday that there were reasonable concerns about data centers about 18 months ago, but that “well-structured” projects addressed those concerns.
“This has been unambiguously awesome for blue-collar Americans,” Baker said.
Baker pointed some of the blame at China. On the podcast, he said that there is an “organized, CCP-funded campaign” against data centers that gets “laundered through TikTok.” Similar accusations have been leveled by Garry Tan and Kevin O’Leary.
The social media platform X said that it found a 200,000-strong Chinese bot farm, some of which were posting about data centers. A researcher told Business Insider that many of these bots had no followers or engagement.
The ultimate issue, Baker said, was branding. “The only group that can tell the AI industry’s truth is the AI industry,” he said, “and they need to start telling the truth.”
Baker said the AI companies should take a leaf out of former Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s book.
The former Facebook executive would often open earnings calls by listing specific stories of small businesses or individuals finding success by using the company’s products.
“I’d love to see, you know, everybody SpaceX, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta say, ‘Hey, here are real businesses and real Americans,'” he said. “This is a really positive thing it had on their life.”
“Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, all of them, just run through specifics,” the investor said. “Because the truth will set you free — but only if you tell it.”
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