Shantnu Shar on AI market expansion
From #23—AI, Infrastructure, and the New Battlegrounds of Value : Insights from Shantnu Sharma · · Outthinker
“the question that I would ask is, is my addressable market just software and silicon spend or is it in addition to that a big meaningful slice of labor capex operating spend across the rest of the economy?”
On , Shantnu Shar, Chief Strategy & Corporate Development Officer at Western Digital, spoke about AI market expansion during #23—AI, Infrastructure, and the New Battlegrounds of Value : Insights from Shantnu Sharma on Outthinker.
About Shantnu Shar
Shantnu Sharma, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer at Western Digital, appeared on the Chief Strategy Officer Podcast in March 2026. During the conversation, he discussed the physical constraints and strategic choke points shaping the AI industry, including supply chain issues such as DDR4 memory shortages and the widening gap between spot and contract pricing. He noted that enterprises are monitoring specific "stress gauges" to make business decisions based on their unique situations. Sharma also addressed broader industry dynamics, stating that "every industry wants to manage its risk" but that export controls, geographic concentration, and choke points in packaging or critical materials may determine which enterprises scale and succeed. He posed the question of whether a company's addressable market is limited to software and silicon spending or also includes a "big meaningful slice of labor capex operating spend across the rest of the economy."