Powering AI: Energy, Infrastructure, and the Next Compute Bottleneck
How power, materials, and industrial systems are shaping the next phase of AI
AI isn’t just constrained by chips anymore. It’s constrained by the physical world — power availability, utility timelines, cooling, transformers, critical materials, and the industrial infrastructure required to bring new capacity online.
For builders, operators, and investors in the intelligence stack, the question is shifting from Can we train it? to Can we power it — reliably, affordably, and fast enough to matter?
Hosted by 9Zero and AI Collective, this event brings together founders, operators, and investors to explore how physical constraints are beginning to shape the next phase of AI — and why climate and infrastructure may matter more to the future of AI than many investors currently assume.
Featured conversation
Featuring Jonathan Azoff, Co-Founder and General Partner at SNØCAP, a deeptech venture firm backing companies building the materials, molecules, and machines that power modern industry.
Jonathan brings an engineer-operator and investor perspective to the commercialization, cost-curve, and supply-chain realities behind AI infrastructure. This conversation will explore:
where physical bottlenecks are beginning to shape AI deployment
how power, materials, and industrial systems are changing the AI landscape
which parts of the infrastructure stack may become more venture-backable
what kinds of founders and technologies at this intersection are actually financeable
whether the climate-tech ecosystem may hold unique insight into the next chapter of AI
Rather than a purely technical discussion, this is a conversation about the emerging market map: where constraints are forming, where value may accrue, and what investors, founders, and operators should be paying attention to now.
Who this is for
Founders, operators, investors, and ecosystem builders working across AI, energy, deeptech, and industrial climate — including allocators tracking where climate and AI infrastructure may begin to converge.
Participants and invitees span Seattle’s ecosystem across AI, climate, and venture communities.
Format
Featured conversation, audience Q&A, and curated networking.
A room of founders, funders, operators, researchers, and infrastructure thinkers.
Limited seats. RSVP to join us.
About Jonathan Azoff
Jonathan Azoff is Co-Founder and General Partner at SNØCAP, a deeptech venture firm founded in 2023 by engineers backing companies building the materials, molecules, and machines that power modern industry. He brings an engineer-operator perspective to commercialization, industrial systems, and what it takes for hardtech companies to become venture-scale. Jonathan is also an investor in 9Zero.
About Orlagh Neary
Orlagh is a Founding Managing Partner of The Quantum Links™ Group and former VP of Microsoft's Quantum and AI Ecosystem Engagement, with 20+ years commercializing emerging tech. She advises organizations on Quantum and AI governance, partners with deep tech startups on go-to-market strategy and is an active board advisor and guest lecturer at UC Berkeley. Orlagh brings a sharp lens on how the quantum–AI convergence reshapes the materials, energy, and infrastructure constraints holding compute back.
About James Wagoner, PE
James is the CEO and co-founder of VerteX Power, an American tier 1 string Power Conversion System (PCS) company for AI datacenter power. James is also the co-founder of Joule Case where he was the CEO for a decade building and scaling a battery company in the PNW. A licensed Professional Engineer, he brings a builder's view of distributed power, behind-the-meter strategy, and the hardware realities of replacing fossil-fueled load.
About Ed Barker (Moderator)
Ed is founder of Studio 1878, developing podcasts for organizations across business, nonprofit, arts, and sport. With 1,500+ episodes since 2008 and a prior decade in strategy and ventures at GSMA and FIS, he brings a former-VC instinct for the right questions and a producer's instinct for the conversations worth having.
About 9Zero
9Zero is a community and convening platform for founders, investors, scientists, and operators building across energy, materials, industrial systems, and climate technology. In Seattle, 9Zero is part of the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub, a partnership with the City of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, UW CoMotion Labs, and VertueLab.
About AI Collective
AI Collective is a global AI community connecting founders, researchers, investors, operators, and engineers through events, chapters, and media.