David Kennedy
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Stanford Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus; founding faculty co-director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West, focused on American history and the past, present, and future of the American West.
AI Demand Turns Western Energy Abundance Into an Affordability Test
Condoleezza Rice opened Stanford’s 2026 State of the West symposium by arguing that the American West’s energy abundance is becoming a test of affordability, infrastructure, and public trust. Rice said AI and advanced computing are accelerating electricity demand, putting pressure on the grid and making household energy costs part of the politics of technological adoption. Her case was that the region’s resources, institutions, and policy choices must now align economic growth, energy supply, and environmental responsibility rather than treating them as separate questions.
AI Infrastructure Spending Is Driving Valuations Across Tech Markets
Tech investors are pricing not only AI models but the infrastructure, financing and execution needed to turn heavy spending into returns, according to Bloomberg Technology’s May 29 coverage. The program tied Dell’s raised outlook and AI server forecast, Anthropic’s reported $965 billion valuation and private-credit financing, and SpaceX’s lower reported $1.8 trillion IPO target to a broader question of whether demand can become durable revenue and profit. Its SpaceX segment framed the revised target as a test of investor willingness to underwrite Elon Musk’s operating record and ambitions at valuation multiples far beyond current sales.