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‘Kicking our butts’: Rapid pace of AI development sparks an urgent push to build better infrastructure

Published

1 day ago

September 10, 2025

Artificial intelligence innovation is moving at warp speed, but major tech industry players are sounding alarm bells that infrastructure is failing to keep pace with advancements in the field.

“AI is kicking our butts and teaching us that we know nothing” about infrastructure, Yee Jiun Song (pictured), vice president of engineering at Meta Platforms Inc., said Tuesday at the AI Infra Summit in Santa Clara, California.

Zeroing in on the fundamental disconnect, Dion Harris, senior director of AI and HPC Infrastructure Solutions at Nvidia Corp., also noted at the conference that though new AI models are being introduced every week, the time frame for building out the infrastructure to support AI is currently measured in years.

“We have to get everyone else to be prepared for where we’re going,” Harris told the gathering. “The biggest challenge is making sure that everyone is ready to come with us. There is this misalignment of time scales. That in and of itself is a challenge.”

Nvidia previews faster inferencing processor

For its part, Nvidia Tuesday previewed an upcoming chip, the Rubin CPX, that is designed to provide 8 exaflops of computing capacity for AI inferencing. According to the chipmaker, the Rubin CPX will be able to optimize certain mechanisms for large language models three times faster than its current-generation silicon. It’s part of Nvidia’s philosophy that an investment of several million dollars in infrastructure can generate tens of millions in token revenue.

“The performance of the platform is the revenue of an AI factory,” Ian Buck, vice president of hyperscale and high-performance computing at Nvidia, said during a keynote appearance. “This is how we feel about inference.”

More than 3,000 attendees participated in the AI Infra Summit in Silicon Valley this week.

Though Nvidia’s latest chip will help boost computing capacity for AI inferencing and specific LLM tasks, the scale of AI adoption is forcing model providers to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to build out new data center clusters. One of the more notable examples of this is the Prometheus supercluster under development by Meta. Scheduled to come online in 2026, the Ohio-based facility will be one of the first gigawatt data center clusters in the AI era.

“Meta is now only one of a few companies that are racing to build data centers at this scale,”
Song said. “There never has been a more exciting time to be working in infrastructure.”

Prometheus is just a warm-up for future data center clusters in the planning stage. Meta has also announced Hyperion, a second data center cluster that is expected to require up to 5 gigawatts of power. Although Meta has not announced a date for Hyperion’s completion, one industry leader is already questioning whether clusters of this size will meet the global demand for AI processing.

“I don’t think that’s enough,” said Richard Ho, head of hardware at OpenAI. “It doesn’t appear clear to us that there is an end to the scaling model. It just appears to keep going. We’re trying to ring the bell and say, ‘It’s time to build.’”

AI agents drive need for the right stack

Increasing adoption of agents for enterprise tasks is one factor behind the urgency in building the infrastructure to support AI deployment. Large tech players such as Amazon Web Services Inc. are making major investments in agentic AI, fueling rapid advancement of what the technology can ultimately do.

Though one of the key use cases is currently “agent-assisted” application development, the technology is expected to progress rapidly toward “agent-driven” solutions, which will place further demands on infrastructure, according to Barry Cooks, vice president of compute abstractions at AWS.

“The expectation here is this will just continue to expand,” Cooks said during an appearance at the conference. “We’re in the midst of a huge change in the technical landscape in how we do our day-to-day work. It’s super-important that you have the right stack.”

Having the right stack will require new approaches in how systems are architected, a challenge that is being addressed in areas such as memory. For AI processors to function effectively, they need rapid access to data, driven by temporary storage such as dynamic random access memory or DRAM. If DRAM is slow, memory becomes a bottleneck.

Software-defined memory provider Kove Inc. has been working on this issue by essentially virtualizing server memory into a large pool to reduce data latency. On Tuesday, Kove announced benchmark results for AI inference engines Redis and Valkey that demonstrated a capability to run five times larger workloads faster than local DRAM.

“The big challenge that we have is traditional DRAM,” Kove CEO John Overton said during his keynote presentation. “GPUs are scaling, CPUs are scaling… memory has not. As long as we think about memory as stuck in the box, we’ll remain stuck in the box.”

Another big challenge is in the processors that keep getting bigger and bigger, ganging up hundreds or thousands of compute cores on a single piece of silicon. That’s creating another bottleneck — communications among all those cores.

“The next 1,000x leap in computing will be completely about interconnect,” said Nick Harris, founder and CEO of Lightmatter Inc., which has raised $850 million for its silicon photonics technology, “Chips are getting bigger. I/O at the ‘shoreline’ is not enough. It’s time for more horsepower. Not faster horses.”

Meantime, AI itself is becoming critical all the way down to the design of chips, too. “About half the chips built today are using AI; in three years, it will be 90%,” noted Charles Alpert, an AI fellow at chip design software firm Cadence Design Systems Inc., which for years has steadily been incorporating more AI into its tools. “The need to make designers more productive has never been higher.”

Leveraging open-source solutions

Companies are also increasingly turning to the open-source community for help in building out the infrastructure to support AI. Initiatives such as the Open Compute Project have fostered an ecosystem focused on redesigning hardware technology to support demands on compute infrastructure. Last year, Nvidia contributed portions of its Blackwell computing platform design to OCP.

Meta joined a number of high-profile firms in 2023 to found the Ultra Ethernet Consortium, a group dedicated to building an Ethernet-based communication stack architecture for high-performance networking. The group has characterized its mission as promoting open, interoperable standards to prevent vendor lock-in and released its first specification in June.

“What we need here are open standards, open weight models and open-source software,” said Meta’s Song. “I believe open standards are going to be critical in allowing us to manage complexity.”

Whether the buildout of gigawatt data centers, streamlined memory performance and open-source collaboration will enable the tech industry to close the gap between AI innovation and the infrastructure to support it remains to be seen. What is undeniable is that hardware engineering is drawing renewed attention, another element in the wave of transformation brought on by the rise of AI.

“I’ve never seen hardware and infrastructure move more quickly,” said Song. “AI has made hardware engineering sexy again. Now hardware engineers get to have fun too.”

With reporting from Robert Hof

Photos: Mark Albertson/SiliconANGLE

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World AI Show Returns to Kuala Lumpur with MDEC as

Published

16 minutes ago

September 11, 2025

TRESCON GLOBAL

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sept. 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The World AI Show is back for its 46th global edition, happening on 28–29 October 2025 at DoubleTree by Hilton, Kuala Lumpur. Powered by a strategic partnership with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), this year’s summit promises to be a premier destination for leaders in AI, cloud, and digital transformation.

MDEC’s involvement highlights Malaysia’s bold digital vision. With the MyDIGITAL Blueprint and a renewed National AI Strategy in motion, the country is positioning itself as the AI hub of Southeast Asia. The World AI Show will bring together policymakers, innovators, business leaders, and investors to discuss how AI and cloud technologies can drive Malaysia’s digital economy forward.

The timing could not have been better. With billions being invested into cloud regions, data centres, and AI infrastructure, Malaysia is fast becoming a key destination for technology, innovation, and growth.

“The advent of AI—particularly Generative AI—has further enabled the transformation of digital ambitions into digital realities,” said Tze Phei Tee, Group Chief Information Officer at Wasco Berhad. “For a high-potential country like Malaysia, now is the time to leverage AI and data more effectively to build a business-friendly ecosystem.”

The summit’s agenda is built around practical, high-impact themes, from advancing Malaysia’s National AI Strategy to driving digital transformation in critical sectors like financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing. Attendees can expect deep dives into the actionable steps required to deploy AI, build data infrastructure, and navigate the ethics of responsible adoption. For investors and VCs, the event will also feature the FutureTech World Cup, a global startup competition where promising AI ventures will pitch for funding and partnerships.

Featured Speakers

As of now, industry leaders confirmed to speak include:

Shamsul Izhan Bin Abdul Majid, Head, National AI Office – Malaysia
Dato’ Ts. Dr. Haji Amirudin Bin Abdul Wahab, Chief Executive Officer, CyberSecurity Malaysia
Stephanie Liew, Chief Information Security Officer, APMEA, British American Tobacco (BAT)
Mohd Hanapi Bisri, Head of Group ICT, Petra Energy
Aaron Kee, Chief Business Officer, Carsome Group
Braendan Yong Kong Choong, Chief Technology Officer, Al Rajhi Bank
SK Joo, Chief Technology Officer, Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn. Bhd.
Tze Phei Tee, Group Chief Information Officer, Wasco Berhad
TAN NGOH LIM, Head of Group Digital & Technology, Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC)
Frank Kang, Country Head – Malaysia, Antler
Weisheng Neo, General Partner, Qualgro

(More regional and global leaders will be announced in the coming weeks.)

Partners & Exhibitors

World AI Show Malaysia is, as of now, supported by leading partners and organisations:

Strategic Partner: Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)
Supporting Partner: CyberSecurity Malaysia
Gold Parner: Magure
Exhibitors: Xtremax, Cloocus Malaysia, Cognitus Asia Sdn Bhd
Association Partners: Starfindo, Kumpul

(Additional partners and exhibitors will be revealed soon.)

What to Expect: High-Stakes Connections and Strategic Opportunities

The summit isn’t just a series of talks; it’s a high-value platform designed for actionable outcomes. The agenda is packed with formats built for engagement and deal-making, including:

Keynote Discussions: Hear firsthand insights from global and regional AI pioneers.
Panel Discussions & Fireside Chats: Participate in open dialogues about the real-world challenges of AI adoption and workforce readiness.
Investor Showcases: Witness the next wave of AI innovation as startups pitch their transformative solutions directly to investors.
Executive Roundtables: Join exclusive, closed-door discussions to forge strategic collaborations with top-tier executives.
Curated Networking Functions: Build targeted partnerships and explore new business opportunities.

For any organization operating in the tech space, the World AI Show Malaysia offers unmatched strategic value by providing a direct line to:

Technology Leaders: Showcase and demonstrate next-gen solutions to a captive audience of enterprise decision-makers.
Solution Providers: Secure a strong foothold in Malaysia’s rapidly evolving AI and cloud ecosystem.
Investors: Gain exclusive access to a curated pipeline of investment opportunities across ASEAN’s digital economy.
Enterprise Executives: Benchmark and evaluate ROI-driven AI deployments and digital transformation strategies.
Academia & Research Bodies: Collaborate with industry leaders on applied innovation and cutting-edge research.

“As we host the 46th global edition of the World AI Show in Malaysia, it underlines the country’s rising stature as a regional hub for cloud and AI innovation,” said Mithun Shetty, Vice Chairman of Trescon. “This edition will serve as a powerful enabler of partnerships and growth across the ecosystem.”

Secure your place at the heart of Malaysia’s AI revolution. The future of ASEAN’s digital economy is being written now—ensure your organization is part of the story.

For free delegate passes: click here

For sponsorship opportunities, speaking engagements, or attendance information, please contact:

Shrikanth Prabhu
Commercial Director
Email: prabhu@tresconglobal.com
Mobile: +91 8660115892

About Trescon

Trescon is a global business events and consulting firm specialized in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, expos, investor connect, and consulting services.

For more information, visit: www.tresconglobal.com

Media Contact:

Utkarsh Pant
Marketing Manager
Email: utkarsh@tresconglobal.com
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Tools & Platforms

Proposed SANDBOX Act May Remove AI Oversight for Developers

Published

39 minutes ago

September 11, 2025

News Staff

Proposed federal legislation known as the SANDBOX Act, introduced on Wednesday, would grant AI developers regulatory lenience to launch new technologies — but some experts argue that the bill poses risks to consumers’ privacy.

Governments are increasingly exploring the sandbox model to allow for AI exploration in a secure environment, from Massachusetts to Delaware and beyond. In Utah, regulatory mitigation agreements with businesses allow for temporary relaxation of laws to develop new technologies, although data sharing, safety and compliance measures are in place.

The SANDBOX Act proposed this week by Sen. Ted Cruz — a.k.a. the Strengthening Artificial Intelligence Normalization and Diffusion by Oversight and eXperimentation Act — aims to do this at the federal level, establishing an AI regulatory sandbox program through the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Under this bill, AI deployers and developers would apply to modify or waive regulations, to more efficiently advance their work to launch new AI technologies. The bill would essentially offer select companies eligibility for two years of regulatory exemptions. OSTP would work across federal agencies to evaluate such requests, and the U.S. Congress would collect regular reports on how often rules were modified or waived to inform policymaking. The legislation aims to help position the U.S. as a leader in AI, which is a federal priority.

“[The SANDBOX Act] embraces our nation’s entrepreneurial spirit and gives AI developers the room to create while still mitigating any health or consumer risks,” Cruz said in a statement.

Stakeholders in responsible AI advancement, however, have raised concerns about the proposed legislation.

Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer rights advocacy group, said that it “puts public safety on the chopping block in favor of corporate immunity.” The group released a statement from its accountability advocate J.B. Branch about the bill.

“Public safety should never be made optional, but that’s exactly what the SANDBOX Act does,” Branch said. “It guts basic consumer protections, lets companies skirt accountability, and treats Americans as test subjects.”

While proponents of regulatory amendments argue that AI companies are being restricted by these rules, Branch said that this is “simply not true,” citing company value assessments.

The CEO of the Alliance for Secure AI, Brendan Steinhauser, argued in a statement that Big Tech companies have repeatedly failed to make safety and harm prevention top priorities.

“The SANDBOX Act removes much-needed oversight as Big Tech refuses to remain transparent with the public about the risks of advanced AI,” he said, questioning who will be allowed to enter this sandbox environment and why.

Other groups, like the Information Technology Industry Council and the Abundance Institute, support this legislation.

This bill comes on the heels of much division about the future of AI regulation — and who holds the authority to implement safeguards.

There is bipartisan agreement among the public that both states and the federal government should be able to regulate AI. But the federal government has attempted to block states’ regulatory authority through a proposed moratorium in a recent budget bill, which was ultimately rejected by Congress; and more recently in the AI Action Plan, which could threaten states’ access to federal funding over their regulatory policies.

There is also bipartisan agreement on enacting some basic AI regulatory protections, such as a ban on lethal autonomous weapons and requiring AI programs to pass a government test before use.

“No federal legislation establishing broad regulatory authorities for the development or use of AI or prohibitions on AI has been enacted,” according to a June Congressional Research Service report.

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Tools & Platforms

GITEX GLOBAL Brings Global AI Leaders to Egypt Ahead of Ai Everything MEA 2026

Published

1 hour ago

September 11, 2025

Oumaima Moho Amer

Mohammedia – Egypt has taken a major step in its AI journey with an exclusive launch event for Ai Everything Middle East & Africa Egypt at the historic Sultan Hussein Kamel Palace in Cairo.

The event, organised by GITEX GLOBAL and hosted by Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in partnership with the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), brought together senior government officials, global tech executives, AI innovators, media, and startup representatives.

The launch sets the stage for the main event, Ai Everything MEA Egypt 2026, scheduled for 11-12 February 2026.

The event showcased Egypt’s goal of generating $42.7 billion in annual AI value by 2030 and establishing Cairo as a hub for global AI collaboration. Discussions focused on how Ai Everything MEA Egypt includes international expertise and Egypt’s National AI Strategy 2025-2030.

Many of Egypt’s strengths in the tech industry were highlighted as key advantages for growing its AI ecosystem: outsourced digital services, semiconductors, electronic design, public sector transformation, startup innovation, and attracting global investments.

Eng. Ahmed Elzaher, CEO of ITIDA, opened the event by emphasizing that, “AI today is no longer a trend; it is a core driver of economic and societal transformation. Hosting Ai Everything MEA Egypt is part of Egypt’s mission to remain at the forefront of the global technology revolution. This summit cements our position as a regional hub for innovation and trusted global partner in the AI era.”

Trixie LohMirmand, EVP of Dubai World Trade Centre and CEO of KAOUN International, added “AI will be the backbone of Egypt’s economic transformation.”

“Our goal with Ai Everything MEA is to empower both the public and private sectors, as well as young talent and startups, to shape the country’s AI future,” she continued.

Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat, noted that the country’s selection to host Ai Everything MEA Egypt reflects international recognition of Egypt’s progress in artificial intelligence.

“Since launching our first National AI Strategy in 2019, Egypt has advanced 46 places in the global AI Readiness Index,” he said.

“The updated strategy focuses on six pillars, including wider access to computing resources, stronger data governance, AI systems to boost growth, digital skills, public awareness, and a solid regulatory framework,” he added.

The launch also featured a panel discussion on “Egypt’s AI Future,” with leaders from IBM, HPE, Deloitte Innovation Hub, WideBot AI, Intella, and Plug & Play Tech Centre. Speakers shared insights on scaling startups, improving public-private partnerships, and raising Egypt’s global competitiveness in AI.

Marwa Abbas from IBM highlighted how AI tools like IBM watsonx are helping Egyptian businesses accelerate digital transformation, while HPE’s Mohamed Wasfy noted that Egypt now hosts some of the world’s most energy-efficient AI systems.

CEOs of Egyptian AI startups, including WideBot AI and Intella, discussed recent funding successes and strategies to grow their businesses internationally.

Ai Everything MEA Egypt 2026, taking place at the NCIEC in Cairo, will host AI experts, startups, investors, policymakers, and global enterprises from 60 countries.

The event features discussions on next-generation AI infrastructure, responsible scaling, semiconductors, cybersecurity, digital health, fintech, and startup-investor networking. It aims to attract global investment and reinforce Cairo as the Middle East and Africa’s AI innovation center.

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