Why AI Factories Need a New Data Layer — with Sven Breuner from VAST Data

In this episode of Means of Production, Kim Isenberg speaks with Sven Breuner from VAST Data about one of the most underestimated bottlenecks in AI infrastructure: the data layer.

As AI factories scale from thousands to tens of thousands of GPUs, performance is no longer just about having faster chips. The real challenge is often whether the underlying storage, metadata, networking, and data architecture can keep up with the demands of modern training and inference workloads.

Sven explains why GPUs can sit idle while waiting for data, how AI workloads differ from traditional HPC, what VAST means by an “AI Operating System,” and why enterprises need to rethink their infrastructure before making massive GPU investments.

A deep dive into AI infrastructure, data bottlenecks, GPU utilization, HPC, storage architecture, and what it really takes to build scalable AI systems.