In a post on X, Chanos questioned NVDA CEO Jensen Huang's cost estimates for building a large-scale AI data center, suggesting a significant discrepancy with what other industry players are reporting.
Is Nvidia Inflating The AI Factory Cost?
Chanos highlighted Huang’s projection that a one-gigawatt (1GW) “AI factory” would cost between $20 to $30 billion before the cost of GPUs is even factored in.
He noted this figure is “well above what many AI data center companies are currently telling investors their costs will be,” pointing to a potential disconnect in the true price of building the infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
The critique centers on what is now being called “Jensen’s math,” which estimates a total 1GW facility cost of $60-$80 billion, with $40-$50 billion of that representing the “compute cost,” which is NVIDIA’s potential revenue.
Jensen's estimate that a 1GW AI factory will cost $20-30B BEFORE GPU costs, is well above what many AI data center companies currently are telling investors their costs will be. https://t.co/PcH5F6QMbS
— James Chanos (@RealJimChanos) September 22, 2025
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The scrutiny comes ...
