Compute demand outpaces supply as data centers move toward heterogeneous processing

Compute demand currently exceeds availability across the board, while the semiconductor supply chain is operating at 100% capacity. Data centers are expected to evolve toward heterogeneous computing, with different processors or engines handling different tasks.

CPUs are expected to remain important for orchestrating agents, and CPU demand is projected to continue rising in data centers and on devices as agents are deployed. In inference, separate engines may handle stages such as prefill and decode.