Just like we explored World Models earlier this year, we’ll soon be dropping a short miniseries on the CPU compute and sandbox industry on the podcast. Now feels like the right moment to explain why. Here’s what’s been happening lately: Noam Brown: „Inference compute is a strategic asset that’s currently undervalued.“ Sam Altman: „To a large extent, we now need to transform into an AI inference company.“ Viewed separately, these remarks could appear as ordinary, unremarkable responses to the highly successful launch of the GPT-21400 model. But in context, they signal a truly remarkable development—one that you, dear reader, should probably be paying very close attention to if you aren’t already treating this matter with the utmost seriousness. The immediate catalyst for today’s op-ed is Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s Q2 2025 earnings call, during which he cited specific figures to highlight the surging demand for CPU (not GPU) compute. It’s clear that an Intel CEO has strong incentives to hype up CPU demand, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s incorrect: [link]. We’ve previously discussed this trend on our SemiAnalysis podcast (edited for readability): Doug: We are kind of right at the exact five to six year period of the refresh cycle of COVID.
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