LinkedIn Won’t Be Expanding Its Data Centers in the Next Year
LinkedIn has announced it will not expand its data center footprint over the next year, opting instead to optimize existing GPU efficiency to support new AI features. This strategy reflects a broader industry trend of balancing the high costs and hardware demands of generative AI with fiscal prudence.
Why it matters
It signals a potential shift in the tech industry toward AI efficiency rather than just raw infrastructure expansion, questioning the sustainability of current AI investment levels.
The spending calculations apply to LinkedIn’s fiscal year that began last month and ends next June. The company says it was able to avoid spending big on AI hardware because it found ways to use its existing GPUs twice as efficiently over the past six months. LinkedIn’s plan could still unravel because the hardware demands of AI are shifting rapidly, but executives say the company has already taken into account surging prices for memory chips.
“One of the goals we've set is to try to basically keep our compute footprint flat or as close to flat as possible while shipping more compute-hungry things to production,” says Erran Berger, LinkedIn’s chief technology officer for engineering. “That’s a pretty bold statement to make in today's world.”
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