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Here’s what’s inside:

• Internet for all? Biden’s BEAD on the hot seat 🪑

• AI Bites: Architecture in the data center 📐

• Hot Links: Awesome new podcast, grids, and LinkedIn

• Daily Dall-E 🎨 

Est. read time: 3mins, 45secs

Biden’s BEAD in 04/2023: It’s Complicated

With $42.5 billion in funding, the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a key component of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), aims to bridge the digital divide in the United States by subsidizing high-speed broadband planning, infrastructure, and adoption programs nationwide.

The BEAD program has the potential to reshape the nation's connectivity landscape. However, the program also faces several challenges, including the "Buy American" requirements and the impact of the global semiconductor shortage.

Challenges:

1. Buy American Requirements:

• President Biden has insisted on "Buy American" provisions within the IIJA, requiring at least 55% of products purchased using government subsidies to be made domestically.

• Fiber optic companies claim they can buy foreign products at cheaper rates, potentially increasing the cost of broadband deployment.

• The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has reaffirmed its commitment to enforcing the "Buy American" stipulations for the BEAD program, despite the potential impact on the US fiber industry.

2. Global semiconductor shortage:

• The ongoing global semiconductor shortage has led to delays and increased costs for broadband infrastructure projects.

• Equipment like routers and switches, which rely on semiconductors, are in short supply, potentially hindering the BEAD program's progress.

3. Lack of a national deployment strategy

• Hampers the potential for widespread impact and benefits, leaving certain communities underserved and exacerbating existing inequalities. This has the potential to create serious inconsistencies in implementation and access across different regions.

Opportunities:

1. Addressing the Digital Divide:

• The BEAD program aims to connect underserved and rural areas, helping to reduce the digital divide in the United States.

• Access to high-speed broadband can enable economic development, remote work, telemedicine, and online education opportunities.

• The BEAD program is expected to be a significant boon to the US fiber industry, making it more cost-effective to deploy network infrastructure in underserved areas.

• The NTIA believes the US fiber industry has the time necessary to scale their operations to meet the program's needs.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program presents a unique opportunity to bridge the digital divide and bolster the US fiber industry. However, challenges such as the "Buy American" requirements and the global semiconductor shortage may hinder the program's progress.

As industry applications for funding allocations approach the June 30 deadline, it remains to be seen how these challenges will be addressed and what the ultimate impact of the BEAD program will be on the nation's connectivity landscape.

We’re looking at how the explosion of AI is affecting the data center industry. Today we’re looking at AI and data center architecture. Take a few bites below:

1. If you like the computing and architecture side of AI, check out these guys at: Advanced Clustering. They create custom HPC clusters specifically for AI computing in data centers.

2. According to Globest, the recent data center development boon won’t be sufficient for what we’re about to witness in AI.
   Just look at Meta: they put a hold on all their data center development ($10’s of billions in deployment!) to reconfigure their architecture to optimize for their AI needs.  

3. TE Connectivity says that flexibility in architecture design is the key to our AI future. “Over the next five years, the use of machine learning is expected to shift away from dedicated infrastructures to more flexible infrastructures which can provide the capacity to scale, change, and diversify instantly.”
   Check out TE.com for a look at how they create custom AI architecture for data centers.

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- Taylor