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🏗️ Infra Arms Race: Why Builders Must Unite

As the next era of global competition unfolds, the upcoming white paper set to debut at AI INFRA SUMMIT 4 in San Francisco charts the fast-moving landscape of the digital infrastructure arms race and why collaboration is the only path forward. The report draws on the latest insights from McKinsey, Brookfield, PwC, combined with our own insights at Ignite to spotlight urgent trends, macro risks, and the opportunity of this decade.

An Age of Unmatched Urgency

The white paper identifies the 2020s as a turning point: a time when national security, global job creation, and economic leadership all hinge on the velocity and scale of AI infrastructure buildout. With over $7 trillion already earmarked worldwide and a growing recognition, from D.C. to Paris, that “winning” means infrastructure first leaders everywhere are racing not just to innovate, but to out-build their competitors.

Demand Outsprints Supply

According to the report, AI is set to drive 71% of all data center demand by 2030, while Gen AI workloads alone could make up 40% of the total. Yet 90% of existing data centers aren’t AI-ready and virtually every new facility is pre-leased years ahead. Industry analysts argue that simply bridging this gap will require $6.7 trillion in new investment by the end of the decade. The stakes? Up to $10 trillion in unlocked productivity for those who lead.

The Make-or-Break Energy Race

The most acute challenge, according to these experts, is energy. By 2030, data centers are projected to consume 5% of global power, prompting grid connection backlogs that can stretch for a decade. China, with a regulatory and build velocity advantage, is on track to surpass the U.S. in capacity and speed, raising red flags for America’s digital sovereignty and long-term competitiveness.

Inferencing: Demand Tsunami Incoming

The coming wave of enterprise AI isn’t just large it’s exponential. The report previews how inference workloads are set to jump from 40% to 75% of Gen AI compute by 2030, multiplying the need for edge and micro data centers and stretching every layer of hard and soft infrastructure. With lead times for essential hardware tripling and energy solutions lagging, the white paper argues that supply will always be playing catch-up, and partnership is no longer optional it’s existential.

AI INFRA SUMMIT / NOV7 / SAN FRANCISCO

Our argument is clear: building together is non-negotiable. Only the most agile, ecosystem-scale partnerships between founders, hyper-scalers, energy innovators, investors, and policymakers will win in this new race. The AI INFRA SUMMIT 4, taking place November 7 in San Francisco, is positioned as the only forum capable of convening this coalition and igniting the operational alliances required to build at speed and at scale.

For those seeking not just to participate, but to lead the transformation of the AI-powered economy, this year’s white paper and summit are essential. The era of incremental progress is over the next decade belongs to the bold collaborators.

Upcoming Events

BA Startups Collectively Secured $14.2B in September

Bay Area startups closed on $14.2B in the first four days of September (vs. $4.2B for the entire month of August), starting with Anthropic's $13B series F on day one. It was an unusually active week for later stage fundings, with more Series B and later fundings than early stage Series A and seed rounds.

 OpenAI made clear today they're focused on expanding their reach well past ChatGPT with their announcement that they are building a platform to connect job seekers with employers. Their OpenAI Jobs Platform "will have knowledgeable, experienced candidates at every level, and opportunities for anyone looking to put their skills to use. And we’ll use AI to help find the perfect matches between what companies need and what workers can offer." They're coupling this with OpenAI Certifications for different levels of AI fluency, from the basics up to prompt engineering. You can read the full blog post here.

At the same time, OpenAI is continuing its push to change the corporate structure to a PBC (public benefit corporation) that would have the ability to go public. But it's reportedly hitting headwinds from California's attorney general and Microsoft, which is using the opportunity to extract improved terms in its agreement with OpenAI, including the ability for continuing access to the OpenAI models and technology after AGI is attained. If their corporate structure is not changed by the end of 2025, OpenAI stands to lose $20B of Softbank's $30B investment earlier this year.

For startups raising capital: The Pulse of the Valley weekday newsletter keeps you current with the startups that are getting funded and who's investing in them – and not just the big, high profile deals. We surface the 50% of early stage fundings – and their investors - that close quietly and never hit the press. Details include investor and executive connections and contact information on 25+ years of fundings and business activity. Founders get the full $50/month package for just $7/month with LinkSV's Entrepreneur membership, details and signup here.

Follow us on LinkedIn to stay on top of what's happening in 2025 in startup fundings, M&A and IPOs, VC fundraising plus new executive hires & investor moves.

Early Stage:

• Augment closed a $85M Series A, provides a freight-native AI teammate that works across phone, email, portals, and systems to automate and streamline the most complex logistics workflows—supporting brokers, shippers, and carriers from order to cash.

• Kite AI closed a $18M Series A, building the foundational infrastructure for the agentic internet that enables autonomous agents to authenticate, transact, and operate independently in real-world environments.

• Flex Payments closed a $15M Series A, helps leading health and wellness brands increase AOV by up to 50% and boost checkout conversion by 30% with the only HSA/FSA payments infrastructure purpose-built for eCommerce.

• Aurelius Systems closed a $10M, developing autonomous laser weapons to counter modern drone threats using advanced optics, AI-guided tracking, and high-powered directed energy.

• Plural Finance closed a $7.1M Seed, transforming real-world energy assets—like solar, batteries, and data centers—into scalable, programmable investment products through tokenization and smart contract automation.

Growth Stage:

• Anthropic closed a $13.1B Series F, a San Francisco-based AI safety and research company developing AI systems that are helpful, honest and harmless.

• Sierra Technologies closed a $350M Series D, helps businesses build better, more human customer experiences with AI.

• Galvanize Therapeutics closed a $100M Series C, delivering medical technology innovations that drive biologic processes to treat a range of diseases, including solid tumors, and chronic bronchitis symptoms.

• HappyRobot closed a $44M Series B, an enterprise-grade platform to build, deploy, and manage an AI workforce working with supply chain enterprises.

• Allocate closed a $30.5M Series B, the intelligent operating system for private market investing.

Nebius | AI-Native Cloud Infrastructure

Nebius is a Nasdaq-listed technology company headquartered in Amsterdam, focused on building full-stack cloud infrastructure tailored for the global AI industry. With in-house AI R&D hubs across Europe, North America, and Israel, Nebius delivers the scale and innovation needed to power next-generation AI.

What They Offer

• AI-Native Cloud Platform: Built on proprietary architecture and custom-designed hardware, including servers, racks, and data centers.

• End-to-End Infrastructure: Provides compute, storage, and managed services optimized for building and deploying AI models.

• NVIDIA Reference Platform Partner: Recognized globally as one of the few providers certified to meet NVIDIA’s rigorous standards for AI and ML workloads.

Why It Matters

• Purpose-built for the rapidly growing demands of AI.

• Designed to optimize performance, scalability, and efficiency.

• Enables developers to accelerate model development and deployment without compromise.

📍 Learn More: Nebius.com

Nebius: delivering the AI-native infrastructure powering the next era of machine intelligence.

Your Feedback Matters!

Our mission is to provide an insider's view of Silicon Valley's undercurrents – insights often overlooked by mainstream sources. While many newsletters offer broad market overviews, we focus on delivering a unique, in-depth understanding of the local ecosystem. We share behind-the-scenes conversations, introduce key players we meet at events, and offer exclusive insights.

Your feedback is crucial in helping us refine our content and maintain the newsletter's value for you and your fellow readers. We welcome your suggestions on how we can improve our offering. [email protected] 

Logan Lemery
Head of Content // Team Ignite

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