We recently had the opportunity to discuss the state of AI with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang. This presentation was the basis of our conversation. Jensen has talked about building the “AI factory” of the future. What took 144 years during the Industrial Revolution might happen in just a few years with AI.

Here’s why: The specialization imperative.

Beyond a certain scale, complex systems need both general-purpose AND highly specialized components to mature. 

What took 144 years during the Industrial Revolution might happen in just a few years with AI. Here’s the timeline of that cycle:

• 1712: First steam engine invented
• 1779: First factory system (67 years later)
• 1923: Modern assembly line perfected (144 years after that)

Today, we’re living through the Cognitive Revolution:

• 1999: First GPU (our “steam engine”)
• 2016: First AI factory putting all components together
• 202X: The cognitive assembly line

In this revolution, we went from engine to factory in just 17 years instead of 67—and the cognitive assembly line is likely fast approaching. The question isn’t IF this transformation will happen. It’s WHO will be the John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie of the AI era.

At Sequoia, we believe it’s the startups being built right now—the ones carrying out this specialization imperative across every industry. The Cognitive Revolution is here. And it’s moving faster than anything we’ve seen before.