Eliot Brown

Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off? Tech companies are pouring hundreds of billions into data centers, taking on heavy debt, but current revenue is relatively tiny. Critics warn of a new dot-com bubble.

Robbie Whelan and I did a piece today on the AI bubble (?)

Increasingly loud echoes of dotcom fiber boom-turned-bust

www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-b...

surely there's a disney movie in this plot

holy octopus www.thetimes.com/life-style/f...

New York Has a New E-Bike Speed Limit—and No Way to Enforce It When the city announced a speed limit in June, haters rejoiced. But the plan had some holes.

"Spokespeople for both City Hall and the city’s Transportation Department directed questions to the New York Police Department, which in turn told The Wall Street Journal to ask City Hall."

www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ne...

👏

UK press staple: Politician 'refuses to rule out' x

Oracle CEO on investor call: "Stargate is not formed yet"

Musk Exits DOGE Leaving Threadbare Agencies and Strained Workers The full effects of a drastic cost-cutting campaign are coming into focus as its billionaire architect departs from the government

Musk is out (or so he says). But the DOGE mindset remains, evident in gutted agencies and a demoralized workforce.

“Nobody else in the world is doing this kind of thing. And it’s basically going to get shelved.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Exclusive | Elon Musk Tried to Block Sam Altman’s Big AI Deal in the Middle East Musk warned those involved that President Trump wouldn’t bless the OpenAI data-center project in Abu Dhabi unless his xAI company was included in the deal, according to people familiar with the matter...

Elon Musk wasn't happy about Stargate UAE. On a call w/ G42, Musk warned those assembled: Their plan had no chance of Trump signing off on it unless his company xAI was included in the deal. Scoop w/ @eliotwb.bsky.social + Josh Dawsey
www.wsj.com/tech/elon-mu...

Exclusive | Austin’s Reign as a Tech Hub Might Be Coming to an End Regional tech hubs across the U.S. are losing talent as workers return to the coasts, with Austin being one of the hardest hit.

San Francisco is so dea...

www.wsj.com/articles/aus...

Until I start my new job, I will be pursuing my hobby of removing feral honey bee colonies from people’s homes on a semi-pro basis. I hope to post a lot of bee-related content, mostly on LinkedIn, because I think that would be funny.

This is my new business venture. I will be making T-Shirts.

How Gulf Sheikhs Played Their Trump Cards Into a Massive AI Chip Deal The U.A.E.’s ruling family used headline-grabbing investment numbers, deals with Trump family businesses and ties with tech executives to score an Nvidia deal.

my piece on UAE's Trumpian charm offensive to win access to AI chips

It worked well

www.wsj.com/tech/how-gul...

Trump’s Family Is Rapidly Striking Business Deals in the Mideast Golf resorts, crypto deals and financial investments blur the line between private business and public policy.

Our piece on Trump Inc racking up deals with Middle East government ties as Trump heads to the Gulf to do policy

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

😭

Neom, Pt 1: Skiing in the Desert - The Journal. - WSJ Podcasts In 2017, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious, young leader, Mohammed bin Salman, unveiled Neom: a futuristic new city Saudi Arabia would build in the desert. Neom would be a hotspot for tourism like the French R...

And here's Part One

SKIING IN THE DESERT

www.wsj.com/podcasts/the...

Neom, Pt 2: The Emperor’s New Clothes - The Journal. - WSJ Podcasts Andy Wirth and Tony Harris moved halfway across the world to help build Neom: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s futuristic new city in the Saudi desert. But what they found wasn’t the desert utopia o...

Here's our super cool podcast on Neom from the Journal

Part two: THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

Find within:

-screaming executives
-a giant hole in a mountain
-trillions in budget overruns
-financial manipulation

www.wsj.com/podcasts/the...

How is the CoreWeave IPO going?

Eight odd things in CoreWeave’s IPO prospectus [FREE TO READ] A data centre field of dreams, or the WeWork of the AI bubble?

“A data centre field of dreams, or the WeWork of the AI bubble?”

@bryce.lol just put out 3,000 words of searing analysis on CoreWeave for FT Alphaville.

If you are thinking of committing money this IPO, it’s essential reading. Even if you’re not, it’s bloody brilliant.

on.ft.com/3Y3Oo2M

Anticipated cost of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject explodes from $500bn to $8.8 trillion Neom is a series of megaprojects that will see the construction of futuristic cities and holiday des...

The anticipated cost of the Neom gigaproject in Northwest Saudi Arabia have exploded from the original $500bn (£386bn) estimate to $8.8 trillion (£6.8 trillion)

Full story:

What Went Wrong at Saudi Arabia’s Futuristic Metropolis in the Desert Neom executives shielded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the challenges of his fantastical plans, including by engaging in ​“deliberate manipulation​” of financials, an internal report​ ​found

My story on Neom

Inside: a $45 M party w/ Alicia Keys, a $8.8 T capex estimate, an internal audit alleging "financial manipulation" by top executives, $130 M of McKinsey fees in a year, and the chandelier, an ornamental 30-story tower hanging upside down

www.wsj.com/finance/saud...

What Went Wrong at Saudi Arabia’s Futuristic Metropolis in the Desert Neom executives shielded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the challenges of his fantastical plans, including by engaging in ​“deliberate manipulation​” of financials, an internal report​ ​found

At a cost of more than $50 billion, the Saudi crown prince’s sci-fi-inspired dreams for his Neom metropolis—including the Line, a pair of 106-mile-long Empire State Building-height skyscrapers—have collided with reality

Sawzall, sawmill, chainsaw, chop saw, table saw, radial arm saw.

Or perhaps an axe, hatchet, shredder, jackhammer

They have really tiny teeth, and yes are strong and can cut through metal, but it's quite slow

so many other saws to choose from

Is hacksaw really the best analogy from the WH press corps?

A large number of fantastic journalists in WSJ's tech buro were sadly laid off yesterday.

Happy to vouch for them if anyone is hiring.

Lessons from History: The Rise and Fall of the Telecom Bubble The Internet and Telecom bubble. Lessons in leverage, rates, and a smattering of fraud. What can we learn from that period to compare it to today?

"telecom Capex was approximately $120 b in 2000 dollars, or ~$213 b in today’s dollars. This is one of the largest bases of capital ever built in such a short amount of time, and this capacity led to a glut in fiber that took almost a decade to backfill."

www.fabricatedknowledge.com/p/lessons-fr...

"Dazzled by the new technology, investors were throwing money at anything optical and innovative. Easy money helped startups multiply. Everybody seemed to be hiring. Fiber optic technology was on a roll, and promised a huge new optical market that could sustain long-term growth. "

"The result was a technological breakthrough that brought the explosive growth of the internet—and an air of irrational exuberance that brought economic tumult."

internethistory.org/wp-content/u...