Amazon is buying billions in Nvidia AI systems it can't yet turn on
AWS is ordering billions in Nvidia AI racks early and staging some in warehouses while data centers await power.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has announced that the company is acquiring billions of dollars worth of Nvidia AI systems, even though they are not yet operational. This move is driven by the company's recognition of AI as a significant opportunity. According to internal emails reviewed by Business Insider, Amazon is expected to receive approximately $5 billion worth of Nvidia's GB300 server racks at US facilities before the final deployment.
On top of that, the company anticipates receiving an additional $3 billion worth of these racks each month. However, due to data center power shortages, some of these GPU systems are currently stored in warehouses awaiting deployment. The new Early Rack Receipt process allows AWS to receive roughly $5 billion worth of Nvidia's GB300 server racks at US facilities before final deployment.
Despite this, some AWS sites have available rack space but insufficient power to activate them, leaving finished equipment in intermediary warehouses until the facilities are ready. The lack of new electricity capacity is one of the bottlenecks slowing down the buildout of some AI data centers. This situation has led to a phenomenon known as "dark GPUs," where AI chips and servers are purchased but cannot be utilized due to power supply issues or other challenges.
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