Valuetainment - June 02, 2026


“Nuclear‑Powered Data Centers” - AI CEO Promises 'Good Neighbor' Nuke Plants In YOUR Backyard


Episode Stats


Length

7 minutes

Words per minute

206.31807

Word count

1,648

Sentence count

122


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode: CEO of Cerebrus says AI companies need to pay their own way for data centers, and we need to be better neighbors when approaching communities where they plan to build massive facilities to house the thousands of advanced chips needed to power AI models.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.120 So CEO of Cerebrus comes out and says,
00:00:02.600 as AI as an industry has done a terrible job
00:00:06.160 of selling data centers, and we ought to pay our own way.
00:00:09.980 Here he is. Go ahead, Rob.
00:00:11.180 Sorry, this is Kevin O'Leary.
00:00:12.520 Oh, no, no, no, Cerebrus CEO.
00:00:13.880 Do you have that one or no?
00:00:14.940 Kevin O'Leary looking cool with a little soul path.
00:00:16.480 Okay, so let me play this, and then let me read this,
00:00:18.460 and Rob, and then maybe we'll play that clip.
00:00:19.860 So Andrew Feldman says the AI industry
00:00:22.280 has done a poor job of selling data centers to the public.
00:00:24.420 He has a different message in mind,
00:00:25.900 modeled after Microsoft President Brad Smith.
00:00:28.020 these can be clean they can make jobs they can be good for communities he said at a 20 vc podcast
00:00:35.900 we can do it thoughtfully feldman fresh off the chip makers blockbuster ipo said ai companies need
00:00:41.380 to be better neighbors when approaching communities where they plan to build massive
00:00:45.820 facilities to house the thousands of advanced chips needed to power ai models there's no reason
00:00:51.120 why we can't add these add these to communities and have the community benefit from it and we
00:00:55.880 have to do some thinking we all have heavy equipment out there build a football field for
00:00:59.900 the local school build a school build a church or a synagogue to the community we can be good
00:01:04.160 neighbors at very very low cost data centers need to be better stewards of local resources
00:01:08.880 Feldman said in some cases they try to pawn off costs on local community or use outdated
00:01:14.760 financial arrangements that left the community holding the bag which Tom is raising his hand
00:01:18.760 because he wants to jump into the story and in others they were wasteful of resources this is
00:01:24.020 not cool, and none of this needs to be the case. Tom, it sounds like you agree with him.
00:01:27.760 I absolutely agree with him, and I thank you for standing up. So, you know, you have this
00:01:33.920 incredible IPO that goes out there. Cerberus goes out there, big IPO, everything going on,
00:01:39.920 and then you have all the things going on. These folks have built data centers. They have one in
00:01:44.020 Santa Clara, Stockton, Dallas, and Oklahoma City. Pat, Oklahoma City, in terms of speed,
00:01:49.280 is one of the fastest data centers in the world.
00:01:52.440 Not the fastest, but it's one of the fastest in the world.
00:01:55.480 And he's got another one planned for Atlanta.
00:01:58.200 So he knows what he's talking about.
00:02:00.640 And he's also, I think, speaking to the rest of the industry.
00:02:04.700 Now, was he speaking like this a year ago?
00:02:06.580 I can't find quotes of things on this.
00:02:08.360 But he's saying the right thing today.
00:02:10.100 And I hope that this is what he has believed.
00:02:12.640 I could go back and read the S1 from the IPO
00:02:14.840 and go see if this is what they were talking about.
00:02:16.600 But when he talks about outdated financial agreements, that's like the bad sports stadiums.
00:02:23.100 We were talking last week about sports stadiums, Pat, right, where the cities get all excited and they put a bond out there, which the people got to pay the interest on, the taxpayers, and then they give them tax-free status.
00:02:34.280 And then they promise to build roads and get more access around it like Miami, and yet they got no new roads and no access in Miami, as you know, Adam, to the Marlins Stadium.
00:02:45.060 And so people are trying to get down to Little Havana. It's always just a grind to get down there.
00:02:49.980 Well, this guy's saying the right things, and I agree with him.
00:02:53.580 And by the way, when he says let's pay our own way on energy, let me code that for you.
00:02:58.600 We want to put small nuke, modern technology, modern generation nuke reactors right next to our data centers and power them.
00:03:06.500 And if I was the president, I've been saying this over and over again, I would say, give me the pen.
00:03:11.920 I have the pen, excuse me, give me the permits
00:03:14.420 and let's get these things signed
00:03:16.180 so that we can, Department of Energy, EPA
00:03:18.440 everybody work together on this, let's get this
00:03:20.280 signed, let's put them in there with one caveat
00:03:22.440 if tornadoes take out
00:03:24.520 a lot of things locally and we need
00:03:26.500 power backup, you turn down
00:03:28.500 the power in your data center, flip the switch
00:03:30.500 and take your reactor and pump the power
00:03:32.680 out to the public electric
00:03:34.780 network, that's all I want
00:03:36.600 you to do, I just want you
00:03:38.040 your permit comes with
00:03:39.740 But in the event of civil emergency, usually weather in the Midwest in this case, I want you to – it could be earthquakes, Santa Clara is in California, so is Stockton.
00:03:50.260 We do it.
00:03:51.240 But I like this.
00:03:52.400 I think this is where capitalism meets corporate stewardship means responsibly community, member of community.
00:03:59.760 And he's a pretty direct interviewer.
00:04:01.300 He doesn't hold back.
00:04:02.220 He's tough.
00:04:02.660 He's strong.
00:04:03.120 He's built a company, Vinny, that's $60 to $100 billion, 1,000 employees.
00:04:07.360 Their revenue last year was around $550 million in 2025.
00:04:11.760 They're saying they could be a potential competitor of NVIDIA.
00:04:15.500 They're probably in the same category as not OpenAI.
00:04:20.520 OpenAI's got a revenue of $20 billion, $22 billion, give or take.
00:04:23.500 They're making real revenue.
00:04:24.520 These guys are at $500 million, but they're coming up.
00:04:26.820 They're coming up, and he's a $3.5, $3, $3.5 billion guy,
00:04:29.620 so he's a legit guy saying something like this.
00:04:31.060 They do have a product.
00:04:32.000 It's called the WSE3, the Wafer Scale Engine 3 chip,
00:04:35.300 And so they're out there competing with me.
00:04:36.740 So let's see what happens here.
00:04:38.580 Can I jump in on this?
00:04:40.320 It kind of reminds me of your book, where you talk about you need to have logic and emotion.
00:04:44.220 I think you talked about it in Choose Your Enemies Wisely, did you not?
00:04:47.100 And here's what it is.
00:04:48.160 In any business, you have two main core components.
00:04:50.820 You have the product and you have the marketing.
00:04:53.600 One can argue that the product here is necessary for America to succeed in our prosperity.
00:04:58.900 AI, data, innovation, of course.
00:05:01.680 But you need to sell that to the public.
00:05:03.540 The public has kids and families, and they want a nice community,
00:05:06.200 and you need to do a better job of selling that,
00:05:09.800 selling the dream, as you call it.
00:05:11.460 You talk about, you know, what is Mario Cuomo's famous quote?
00:05:14.440 If the campaign and poetry be like governed in prose,
00:05:17.100 sell this to the people with empathy.
00:05:18.820 That's what he's saying. That's his point. What's your point?
00:05:21.060 That's what I'm saying. They need to do a better job of that.
00:05:23.920 My point is this. AI is not going anywhere.
00:05:27.000 The product is necessary. It's innovative.
00:05:30.460 You think AI is going to help America?
00:05:32.200 We need to compete with China, just like Kevin O'Leary basically said.
00:05:35.760 There's been sort of a hit campaign from China and other foes of ours
00:05:39.660 who don't want to see it done here.
00:05:41.580 But both things need to be done, just like you said,
00:05:43.660 when you're putting a business plan together.
00:05:45.500 Use logic, use emotion, use authority, and use empathy.
00:05:48.380 All right, let's go to the next story.
00:05:48.840 And that's how you sell the dream.
00:05:49.880 There you go, folks.
00:05:50.600 That was Adam.
00:05:51.200 Had to put the final thoughts because, you know, Adam's a—
00:05:53.700 Well, no, it was just my thoughts.
00:05:54.840 Yeah, I understand that.
00:05:55.780 But I was going to the next story, but—
00:05:57.620 I'm sorry.
00:05:58.040 You wanted to give the thought to the next story.
00:05:58.680 Next story, I won't speak.
00:05:59.700 Yes.
00:06:00.020 No, you can speak on the next story,
00:06:01.420 But if it's a story I'm coming to you, speak on it.
00:06:03.940 You just repeat it what the guy said.
00:06:05.460 But it's fine.
00:06:06.140 It was yesterday.
00:06:06.900 We had people over at the house.
00:06:09.120 And I'm walking around.
00:06:10.160 And Tom is asking me about the different shoes.
00:06:12.480 So I wore the white, the brown, and the black this weekend.
00:06:16.760 All weekend I wore the white, the brown, and the black.
00:06:19.740 The white was for Santa's birthday.
00:06:21.620 The brown I wore at the office on Friday.
00:06:23.720 And the black I wore yesterday.
00:06:25.800 Every single day.
00:06:27.740 Except for now I think it's 12 days.
00:06:29.800 since September 9th of
00:06:32.000 2025, I have worn
00:06:34.040 these Future Looks Bright shoes.
00:06:36.180 They're the most comfortable shoes I have
00:06:38.100 with the on-cloud,
00:06:39.640 what do you call it, the super foam technology on
00:06:41.980 the bottom, and then made
00:06:44.060 in Tuscany, made in Italy. Rob,
00:06:46.060 if you want to play this clip, folks, with fathers that are being
00:06:47.920 around the corner, if you haven't yet picked
00:06:50.040 up yourself a Future Looks Bright shoe
00:06:52.040 for yourself, maybe pick it up for your father
00:06:54.120 or somebody that you love. Go ahead and play the clip, Rob.
00:06:56.500 When we set out to create a
00:06:58.140 that blends comfort, function, and luxury.
00:07:02.140 We had the choice to make it fast.
00:07:04.140 We had the choice to make it cheap.
00:07:06.140 We chose neither.
00:07:08.140 Instead, we chose Toscaneiro.
00:07:10.140 We chose true Italian craftsmanship,
00:07:12.140 each pair touched by 50 skilled hands.
00:07:15.140 We chose patience, spending two years perfecting every detail,
00:07:19.140 and we chose the finest quality at every step.
00:07:22.140 Introducing the Future Looks Bright collection.
00:07:26.140 not rushed, not disposable, not ordinary, rather intentional, luxurious, timeless.
00:07:39.420 There you go. Go to vtmerch.com, place your order. Again, go to vtmerch.com, place your order with
00:07:45.260 the latest FLB shoes. Some sizes are not available. 14 is still not in, but go check to make sure the
00:07:51.060 size is in because they sell out fairly quickly once they come in. If you enjoyed this video,
00:07:54.660 If you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:07:56.480 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.