EBay boosts investments in GPUs in push to harness AI
WSJ: Nitzan, tell me about the generative AI tools that eBay is working on. What’s available already, and what do you have in store for the year ahead? Mekel-Bobrov: We have a three-pronged approach to our generative AI strategy, the first one being the listing process. So really, these are seller-facing tools, including description generation, listing generation, as well as some of the image modification and enhancements that generative AI enables sellers to do with our tools to create more engaging and more studio-quality photography and listings.
We also have a number of buyer-facing features currently live. And then finally, our third prong is really around enabling productivity internally for our employees. WSJ: Steve, what’s been your role at the company in getting some of these generative AI investments off the ground? Priest: The way I approach being a CFO at the company has been a thought partner to the leadership team and really thinking about, how do we continue to invest to drive benefits for our customer, while at the same time continue to manage the financial architecture of the company? WSJ: Let’s dig into some of those numbers.
EBay said this year that it will spend between 4% and 5% of its revenue on capex. Priest: As a company that generates around $10 billion in revenue, that 4 to 5% of capex, as a percentage of revenue is in that $400 to $500 million range. So that’s our total capex.
Now, as it pertains to 2024, we will be doubling the GPU capacity by the end of Q1 from the end of last year. We’re leaning in hard. We continue to invest.
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