The Rise of AI Drives Demand for Computing Power, Prompts Adoption of Decentralized Cloud Solutions
Since the advent of GPT technology in 2022, the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has experienced explosive growth. Alongside this expansion, the demand for computing power, particularly GPUs, has surged dramatically.
Training the initial GPT-3 model, for instance, required deep learning across over 170 billion parameters. To put this in perspective, it would take a single consumer-grade graphics card approximately 227 years to perform this training. While the parameter count for GPT-4 remains undisclosed, estimates suggest it is about ten times that of GPT-3. As each additional parameter exponentially increases computational complexity, the burgeoning AI industry faces an ever-growing need for advanced computing capabilities.
### Major Cloud Services Lead the Way in AI Computing Infrastructure
Running the vast computing infrastructure necessary for AI development is prohibitively expensive for individuals or individual companies. Thus, most developers turn to cloud services like AWS. In 2023, AWS established an Ultracluster with around 20,000 GPUs, leveraging economies of scale to offer massive computing power.
Taking GPT-3 as an example, the required deep learning resources can be obtained from AWS for approximately $13,000 over the course of a week. However, despite AWS’s extensive infrastructure, it still struggles to meet the surging demand.
Currently, four global cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, and Google, dominate over 70% of the cloud market. This high dependency on single cloud service providers is expected to hit a ceiling soon, necessitating alternatives like Akash Network’s blockchain-based decentralized cloud computing.
### Blockchain-Powered Efficiency: The ‘Airbnb’ of Data Centers
Akash Network operates on its proprietary mainnet built with the Cosmos SDK, offering a decentralized clouding platform. It connects computing power providers and users through its Akash Marketplace. Providers can offer various computing resources, such as CPUs, GPUs, memory, and storage, while users can easily request the needed services. Transactions on the platform are facilitated via Akash Tokens (AKT), currently the sole currency for these exchanges.
The Akash Network presently supports over 2,000 services from more than 80 providers. Returning to the GPT-3 example, utilizing Akash Network for deep learning can reduce costs to roughly $2,000, just 10% of what AWS charges. Akash Network touts itself as the ‘Airbnb of data centers,’ underscoring its success in significantly reducing costs through a platform economy.
While AWS charges about $4.25 per hour for a single GPU, Akash Network provides equivalent computing power for approximately $0.5 to $1 per hour. This substantial price difference, coupled with growing service capabilities, showcases Akash Network’s potential to disrupt the traditional cloud infrastructure market with its flexible, decentralized approach.
### Expanding Ecosystem and Strengthening Token Utility
Akash Network’s blockchain operates on a dPos system with 64 validator nodes. The platform’s tokenomics include two main components: blockchain and service layers. Tokens are issued as validator and staking rewards.
To shield providers and users from price volatility, Akash Marketplace employs an automatic conversion system. The AKT token serves four primary purposes:
– **Staking**: AKT holders can stake their tokens with validators to enhance network security and earn rewards, maintaining network stability.
– **Transaction Fees**: All network transactions require AKT, covering operational costs and supporting the economic ecosystem.
– **Governance**: AKT holders can vote on critical protocol changes, ensuring decentralized and democratic network governance.
– **Service Payments**: Users pay for Akash Compute Marketplace services using AKT, facilitating resource leasing and provisioning.
The strength of Akash Network lies in enhancing token utility through its marketplace, increasing network value and driving ecosystem activation. Like other decentralized projects, ecosystem expansion is crucial for Akash Network. Although still in its early stages, Akash Network’s competitive pricing and market penetration suggest rapid growth potential, mirroring Airbnb’s disruption of the lodging industry through shared idle resources.
As Akash Network continues to expand its ecosystem and attract users, its long-term growth potential looks promising.
By Park Hyun-jae, Block Media LinkedIn
