Every THE D[AI]LY BRIEF article on AI inference cost — enterprise AI analysis, benchmarks, vendor comparisons, and ROI frameworks for technology and business leaders. Updated as new coverage publishes.
DeepSeek warned of a significant API price rise with no number and no date. Because the weights are MIT-licensed, the ceiling is already public: independent hosts serving the identical model charge 3-4x on posted rates and 40x on cache hits.
August 7, 2026 · 12 min read
Databricks lists 47 servable models to Snowflake's ~30, but Unity Catalog keeps Delta tables read-only to outside engines and Snowflake's own catalog blocks third-party writes outright. Snowflake's exit advantage is narrower than the decks claim: it writes into a catalog you own. On a normalised 10-million-ticket workload the platforms land within 2x of each other; the model tier swings the bill 40x.
August 3, 2026 · 16 min read
North Carolina's 2026 budget repealed the sales-tax exemption on data center electricity and left the exemptions on servers and construction materials intact. The 7% now falls on the meter — which prices always-on inference, not the build.
August 2, 2026 · 14 min read