The World Changed: How AI Inverted Every Assumption That Made Meta Work

Table of Contents

The Great Inversion

Dimension	Before (Pre-AI Era)	After (AI Era)
Binding Constraint	Algorithms & Data ✓	Compute, Power, Chips (Physical) !
Value Capture Point	Software Layer ✓	Infrastructure Layer !
Infrastructure Status	Commoditized (rent from others) ✓	Strategic Moat (must own) !
Compounding Mechanism	Attention alone ✓	Infrastructure + Scale !

Best models mean nothing without capacity to run them at scale.

Waiting in GPU queues = existential risk

Data centers need gigawatts. Grid can’t keep up with demand.

Meta’s response: 6.6 GW nuclear secured

Nvidia controls the bottleneck. Dependency = vulnerability.

Meta’s response: MTIA custom silicon + Rivos

Companies with best models but no infrastructure: Waiting in line for GPU allocations

Companies that own their infrastructure: Control their own destiny

Meta faced a choice: remain dependent, or transform completely. They chose transformation.