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Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

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Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#981

Post by tsimionescu »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #957
tsimionescu wrote: post #873

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Semi is DoA, FSD has been 1 year away for 10 years now give or take, cybercab is flailing, cybertruck same, and China is eating everyone's lunch on lithium cells.

Why do you think "Semi is DoA"? The current offering for heavy haul electric trucks is tiny (very few competitors), but the addressable market is huge. I think there is a good chance we will be surprised by its success. Even if you dislike the wild hype around Elon Musk (I don't care for it), it is hard to disagree that he has built an incredible EV company. The products they produce are excellent (minus the Cybertru…

> Why do you think "Semi is DoA"?

They started producing and selling the Semi in 2022 (after its unveiling in 2017, when they started taking pre-orders) and from everything I've dug up with a bit of Googling it seems they have shipped fewer than 200 trucks by 2025.

We'll see if this new 50k per year factory will actually have customers to ship to, but I wouldn't hold my breath given the current track record.

> The economics of diesel vs electric for heavy haul trucks is a no-brainer. Diesel is much more expensive per kilometer compared to electricity.

The economics you need to look at are dollars/hour/kg delivered. If the battery is too heavy or the charge time too long, the economics turn out much worse. We'll see once real world experiences start being published what it actually does.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#982

Post by Timon3 »

gitaarik wrote: post #979
Timon3 wrote: post #967

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone stumbling across this thread: the idea that, in regards to bias, a real person might actually consider these two events in any way comparable is honestly leaving me stunned. I can't find the right words to describe how sickening it is to see Nazism being treated as just as banally acceptable as any other political direction.

You're misreading. Nazism isn't being treated as acceptable, neither is wokeism. Both companies have apologized for these incidents, and have addressed the problems.

No, I'm understanding you perfectly well.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#983

Post by Lerc »

Timon3 wrote: post #982
gitaarik wrote: post #979

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're misreading. Nazism isn't being treated as acceptable, neither is wokeism. Both companies have apologized for these incidents, and have addressed the problems.

No, I'm understanding you perfectly well.

You understand their point of view and are just rejecting it?

And commenting to express disagreement but not bothering to say why?

I don't quite understand what's going on here?

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#984

Post by throwaway2037 »

tsimionescu wrote: post #981
throwaway2037 wrote: post #957

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think "Semi is DoA"? The current offering for heavy haul electric trucks is tiny (very few competitors), but the addressable market is huge. I think there is a good chance we will be surprised by its success. Even if you dislike the wild hype around Elon Musk (I don't care for it), it is hard to disagree that he has built an incredible EV company. The products they produce are excellent (minus the Cybertru…

> Why do you think "Semi is DoA"? They started producing and selling the Semi in 2022 (after its unveiling in 2017, when they started taking pre-orders) and from everything I've dug up with a bit of Googling it seems they have shipped fewer than 200 trucks by 2025. We'll see if this new 50k per year factory will actually have customers to ship to, but I wouldn't hold my breath given the current track record. > The ec…

No, the early units from 2022 were essentially beta testing for both Tesla and their early customers (Pepsi, etc.). Wiki says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Semi

    > Volume production of the Semi started on April 29, 2026.
Note volume in that statement.

You wrote: "If the battery is too heavy". The 2026 version of Tesla Semi is 450kg lighter than 2022 model because they switched the internal voltage from 12W to 48W, which reduces required wire gauges.

You wrote: "The economics you need to look at are dollars/hour/kg delivered." The original idea for a heavy haul electric truck came from within Tesla. Senior execs wanted to know how they could reduce transport costs for parts manufactured in Fremont, Calif to the Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada. They were using heavy haul diesel trucks to move these parts.

    > the charge time too long
PepsiCo has been driving Tesla Semis since 2022. They have multiple "megachargers" installed on both ends (factory and various warehouses). Google tells me: "allowing the trucks to recharge to roughly 70-80% capacity in about 30 to 45 minutes." That is plenty fast for a truck that needs to load/unload. Tesla recently released a video of a 1.2MW charge session. See: https://x.com/tesla_semi/status/2006431772360474841

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#985

Post by throwaway2037 »

zie wrote: post #970
throwaway2037 wrote: post #953

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Bonds provide stable cash flow. Equities provide growth/return. Use both in the appropriate amounts for your situation. This is sound advice. I want to add some nuance about "bonds": Consider some broad categories: (1) regular gov't bonds, (2) inflation protected gov't bonds, (3) investment grade corporate bonds, and (4) high yield corporate bonds. In category (4), it is possible to get both cash flow and capital a…

Indeed. Category #4 "high yield corporate bonds" are also known as "Junk bonds" because they kind of suck at the stable cashflow part, since they tend to go to $0 sometimes, much like stocks. Technically when bonds "go to $0", you actually get priority over any corporate assets vs stock ownership, but if the bond went to $0, there is likely not a lot of assets left either. So you can't expect to get saved completely…

Credit events (late payments, bankruptcy, etc.) for junk bonds are much less rare than people think. If there is bankruptcy, usually it is Chapter 11 which allows for re-org.

    > Technically when bonds "go to $0"
Extremely unlikely, unless there is massive accounting fraud. Recovery rates are on average about 45-55% (since 1987 according to research by S&P).

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#986

Post by runako »

narrator wrote: post #940
runako wrote: post #934

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stated reason SpaceX and others are talking about doing the near-impossible (orbital datacenters) for astronomical sums is that they are unable to do what e.g. Digital Realty does as its core business. Conventional wisdom is that building datacenters is easy, but maybe the CW is wrong on this? If it were easy, companies would not be talking about spending $1500+/kg to put datacenters in orbit. Note that they assu…

The main problem is that nobody is building new power except China. In space solar panels are 5x more efficient and run 24/7 and you don't need the kind of permits you need to build on earth. That, and you've got NGOs funded by China connected billionaires that relentlessly sue to stop data centers and new power in the United States, and you don't have to deal with that B.S in space because it's federally regulated a…

> nobody is building new power except China

Really out of intellectual curiosity, do you know where this falsehood originated? Obviously new power generation is being built all over the world (US adding 86 GW this year, for example[1]), much of it solar. But I keep seeing this persistent claim.

1 - https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=67205

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#987

Post by dang »

cherry_tree wrote: post #980
dang wrote: post #976

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moderation on HN doesn't have to do with whether we agree or disagree with a post. If it did, most of the posts here would be dead. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48451979 was classified by our software as genai. That's not allowed on HN - see https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html#generated and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47340079 . All such classifiers are imperfect, of course, but we have…

I wasn’t asking if you agreed with the comment in question but in my statement that there is no obvious reason in the content that it should be flagged; it seems you did agree since you restored the comment. Thanks for your feedback and attention.

Ahh I see that now. Perils of reading hastily!

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#988

Post by gitaarik »

Timon3 wrote: post #982
gitaarik wrote: post #979

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're misreading. Nazism isn't being treated as acceptable, neither is wokeism. Both companies have apologized for these incidents, and have addressed the problems.

No, I'm understanding you perfectly well.

You said Nazism is being accepted like other political movements. But nobody (in this thread) ever said something like that.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#989

Post by zie »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #985
zie wrote: post #970

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. Category #4 "high yield corporate bonds" are also known as "Junk bonds" because they kind of suck at the stable cashflow part, since they tend to go to $0 sometimes, much like stocks. Technically when bonds "go to $0", you actually get priority over any corporate assets vs stock ownership, but if the bond went to $0, there is likely not a lot of assets left either. So you can't expect to get saved completely…

Credit events (late payments, bankruptcy, etc.) for junk bonds are much less rare than people think. If there is bankruptcy, usually it is Chapter 11 which allows for re-org. > Technically when bonds "go to $0" Extremely unlikely, unless there is massive accounting fraud. Recovery rates are on average about 45-55% (since 1987 according to research by S&P).

> Recovery rates are on average about 45-55% (since 1987 according to research by S&P).

Exactly.

Re: Google to pay SpaceX $920M a month for compute capacity at xAI data centers

#990

Post by cherry_tree »

gitaarik wrote: post #988
Timon3 wrote: post #982

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm understanding you perfectly well.

You said Nazism is being accepted like other political movements. But nobody (in this thread) ever said something like that.

From my and seemingly others’ reading, you have equated Nazi and woke very directly in your comments. Do you feel you have you not?
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