SF Compute: Commoditizing Compute

Evan Conrad, co-founder of SF Compute, joined us to talk about how they started as an AI lab that avoided bankruptcy by selling GPU clusters, why CoreWeave financials look like a real estate business, and how GPUs are turning into a commodities market.

Chapters:

00:00:05 - Introductions

00:00:12 - Introduction of guest Evan Conrad from SF Compute

00:00:12 - CoreWeave Business Model Discussion

00:05:37 - CoreWeave as a Real Estate Business

00:08:59 - Interest Rate Risk and GPU Market Strategy Framework

00:16:33 - Why Together and DigitalOcean will lose money on their clusters

00:20:37 - SF Compute's AI Lab Origins

00:25:49 - Utilization Rates and Benefits of SF Compute Market Model

00:30:00 - H100 GPU Glut, Supply Chain Issues, and Future Demand Forecast

00:34:00 - P2P GPU networks

00:36:50 - Customer stories

00:38:23 - VC-Provided GPU Clusters and Credit Risk Arbitrage

00:41:58 - Market Pricing Dynamics and Preemptible GPU Pricing Model

00:48:00 - Future Plans for Financialization?

00:52:59 - Cluster auditing and quality control

00:58:00 - Futures Contracts for GPUs

01:01:20 - Branding and Aesthetic Choices Behind SF Compute

01:06:30 - Lessons from Previous Startups

01:09:07 - Hiring at SF Compute