Gavin Baker - Nvidia v. Google, Scaling Laws, and the Economics of AI - [Invest Like the Best, EP.451]
Gavin Baker - Nvidia v. Google, Scaling Laws, and the Economics of AI - [Invest Like the Best, EP.451]
Gavin Baker - Nvidia v. Google, Scaling Laws, and the Economics of AI - [Invest Like the Best, EP.451]
Shownote
Shownote
My guest this week is Gavin Baker [https://x.com/GavinSBaker]. Gavin is the
managing partner and CIO of Atreides Management, and he has been on the show
many times before.
I will never forget when I first met Gavin in 2017. I find his interest in
markets, his curiosity about the world to be as infectious as any investor that
I've ever come across. He's encyclopedic on what is going on in the world of
technology today, and I've had the good fortune to host him every year or two on
this podcast.
Gavin began covering Nvidia as an investor more than two decades ago, giving him
a rare perspective on how the company – and the entire semiconductor ecosystem –
has evolved. A lot has changed since our last conversation
[https://open.spotify.com/episode/05Fx7yNSEA148kHr1znbrb] a year ago, making
this the perfect time to revisit the topic.
In this conversation, we talk about everything that interests Gavin – Nvidia’s
GPUs, Google’s TPUs, the changing AI landscape, the math and business models
around AI companies and everything in between. We also discussed the idea of
data centers in space, which he communicates with his usual passion and logic.
In closing, at the end of this conversation, because I've asked him my
traditional closing question before, I asked him a different question, which led
to a discussion of his entire investing origin story that I had never heard
before.
Because Gavin is one of the most passionate thinkers and investors that I know,
these conversations are always amongst my most favorite. I hope you enjoy this
latest in the series of discussions with Gavin Baker.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out
the episode page here
[https://joincolossus.com/episode/nvidia-v-google-%E2%80%A6-economics-of-ai/].
-----
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast
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Show Notes:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best
(00:04:00) Meet Gavin Baker
(00:06:00) Understanding Gemini 3
(00:09:05) Scaling Laws for Pre-Training
(00:12:12) Google v. Nvidia
(00:14:53) Google as Lowest Cost Producer of Tokens
(00:25:18) AI Can Automate Anything that can be Verified
(00:30:23) The AI Bear Case: Edge AI
(00:33:43) Going from Intelligence to Usefulness
(00:36:34) AI Adoption in Fortune 500 Companies
(00:41:40) Frontier Models and Industry Dynamics
(00:48:05) China’s Mistake and Blackwell’s Geopolitical Leverage
(00:50:11) OpenAI’s Code Red
(00:52:50) Data Centers in Space
(00:58:00) Cycles in AI
(01:01:14) Power as a Bottleneck
(01:03:51) AI Native Entrepreneurs
(01:05:41) Semiconductor VC
(01:09:26) The Mistake the SaaS Industry is Making
(01:14:53) Series of Bubbles
(01:16:31) Whatever AI Needs, It Gets
(01:17:53) Investing is the Search for Truth
(01:18:37) Gavin’s Investing Origin Story
Highlights
Highlights
In this compelling conversation, Patrick O'Shaughnessy reunites with veteran investor Gavin Baker to explore the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, from foundational technologies to long-term strategic implications. With deep expertise in tech investing and a track record of foresight on companies like Nvidia, Baker offers a nuanced perspective on how AI is reshaping industries, infrastructure, and investment opportunities.
Chapters
Chapters
Welcome to Invest Like The Best
00:00Meet Gavin Baker
04:00Understanding Gemini 3
06:00Scaling Laws for Pre-Training
09:05Google v. Nvidia
12:12Google as Lowest Cost Producer of Tokens
16:52 AI Can Automate Anything that can be Verified
28:05The AI Bear Case: Edge AI
34:30Going from Intelligence to Usefulness
37:18AI Adoption in Fortune 500 Companies
43:44Frontier Models and Industry Dynamics
48:58China’s Mistake and Blackwell’s Geopolitical Leverage
56:40OpenAI’s Code Red
57:50Data Centers in Space
1:00:46Cycles in AI
1:07:13Power as a Bottleneck
1:11:10AI Native Entrepreneurs
1:14:17Semiconductor VC
1:16:21The Mistake the SaaS Industry is Making
1:20:41Series of Bubbles
1:26:50Whatever AI Needs, It Gets
1:28:56Transcript
Transcript
Patrick O'Shaughnessy: Here's an interesting question to think about. If your finance team suddenly had an extra week every month, what would you have them work on? Most CFOs don't know because their finance teams are grinding it out on lost expense report...

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