AI may be built in software, but scaling it is becoming a physical-world problem. Every new model, agent, and AI application needs somewhere to run, and an infrastructure connecting them all.

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Ben Longmier, CEO of Ambrosia Energy, and Bill Thayer, SVP and Head of Datacenter Solutions at Bloom Energy, come together on the Smart Systems Stage for a conversation on “Where the AI Infrastructure Boom Is Creating Winners.”

This industry stage session will examine which constraints are creating durable business opportunities, where new categories are beginning to emerge, and what founders can build as AI moves further into the physical world.

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Much of the AI conversation has focused on models, chips, and applications. But none of them operate in isolation. Scaling AI depends on an expanding physical stack: power generation, grid connections, data centers, cooling, electrical equipment, and the systems required to keep everything running.

That creates a different kind of challenge. What happens when demand for compute grows faster than power and infrastructure can be delivered? Which shortages are temporary, and which could reshape the market for years? Where does a constraint stop being a problem and start becoming a category of its own? Those are the questions this session will tackle.

Rather than looking at AI solely through the software layer, Bill Thayer and Ben Longmier will examine the infrastructure underneath it — and what those pressures could mean for founders, investors, and companies planning for the next phase of AI growth.

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