---
title: "Useful life: what it means · The AI Compute Race · DRYBURGH"
source: https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/useful-life
description: "Useful life: The years over which an owner depreciates hardware, writing it off on its books, five to six years on the operators' own filings."
---

# Useful life

What does “Useful life” mean?

Useful lifeThe years over which an owner depreciates hardware, writing it off on its books, five to six years on the operators’ own filings. The lenders’ clock, the term over which the hardware is paid for, is a different clock. *Chapter 4.*

From *The AI Compute Race*. [Read the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#buy)

## Where the book uses it

- [Chapter 4 — One Rack](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes/chapter-4)How a datacenter is actually built, from a converted factory in Memphis to a greenfield campus in Texas, and what the clock from first ground to first power really measures.

## Related terms

- [Lenders’ clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/lenders-clock)
- [Clock](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/clock)
- [Depreciation](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/depreciation)
- [122 days](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/122-days)
- [Abilene](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/abilene)
- [Accelerator](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/accelerator)
- [Blackwell](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/blackwell)
- [Colossus](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/colossus)
- [CPU](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/cpu)
- [GB200 NVL72](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/gb200-nvl72)
- [GB300](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/gb300)
- [GPU](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary/gpu)

From the glossary of The AI Compute Race.

- [Campuses](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/ledger)
- [Tests](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/tests)
- [Scorecard](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/scorecard)
- [Data](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/data/releases)
- [Chapter by chapter](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/companion)
- [The record at a glance](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/observatory)
- [The machine](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/machine)
- [One campus, four futures](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/hyperion)
- [Glossary](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/glossary)
- [People](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/people)
- [Sources](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/sources)
- [Notes](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/notes)
- [Where the book was wrong](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/corrections)
- [Where its sources were wrong](https://dryburgh.com/corrections?book=vol1)
- [The Paper](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/paper)
- [Consent](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/consent)
- [Who builds and pays](https://dryburgh.com/vol1/parties)

*The AI Compute Race: Five Races, One Machine* is a book by Lee S. Dryburgh, the first volume of THE COMPUTE ECONOMY, published by Dryburgh, an imprint of Contestra OÜ, Tallinn, Estonia; its record closes on 8 November 2026.

[About the book](https://dryburgh.com/vol1)[Tell me when it is out](https://dryburgh.com/vol1#notify)