NEW DELHI (Feb 20, 2026) — Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince delivered a powerful critique of the current AI landscape, arguing that the technology’s future must be decentralized and not controlled by a handful of companies in a single “postal code.”
The Current Bottlenecks
Prince identified two main factors currently driving AI’s extreme concentration and high costs, both of which he believes are temporary:
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Hardware Scarcity: AI is currently tethered to specific, high-power chips from dominant manufacturers. However, Prince predicted a shift from “silicon shortage to silicon glut,” asserting that increased competition will inevitably crash the price per unit of compute.
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Talent Concentration: While AI expertise is currently rare and expensive, global enrollment in AI theory and computer science courses is “off the charts.” As a new generation of experts enters the market, the current unsustainable salary bubbles will likely burst.
The $10 Million Frontier
In a bold projection, Prince claimed that the barrier to entry for high-level AI will drop drastically within five years.
“You’ll be able to build models that are on the frontier—specialized, but on the frontier—for tens of millions of dollars [rather than billions] in the not-so-distant future.”
Impact for Startups
For startups and non-hyperscale players, Prince’s message was one of optimism:
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Wider Competition: Emerging silicon manufacturers and new infrastructure players are breaking the monopoly of the tech giants.
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Open Internet: He stressed that decentralized AI anchored in a free and open internet is the only way to ensure global innovation.
