Alphonse Zhang 张靖宇 · WritingPersonal website of Alphonse Zhang (张靖宇): an engineer turned strategy researcher working on energy and compute infrastructure. Writing, work, events, photography and vibecoding projects.https://www.heyalphonse.com/enWhy AI data centers are starting to make their own powerhttps://www.heyalphonse.com/en/insights/why-ai-data-centers-generate-their-own-power/https://www.heyalphonse.com/en/insights/why-ai-data-centers-generate-their-own-power/Compute comes online in months; grid connections take years. Why on-site generation is moving from backup power to a leading role for AI data centers.Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTAI data centersPowerFuel cellsEnergy infrastructureHow I run an industry quick scan with AIhttps://www.heyalphonse.com/en/insights/ai-industry-quick-scan/https://www.heyalphonse.com/en/insights/ai-industry-quick-scan/A quick scan answers one management question in two or three weeks. Five steps, and what AI should do versus what a person must do at each one.Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTIndustry researchAIMethodsStorylinesFrom a laptop I broke to a laser soldering machinehttps://www.heyalphonse.com/en/insights/broken-laptop-to-laser-soldering/https://www.heyalphonse.com/en/insights/broken-laptop-to-laser-soldering/A laptop I broke in my first year of university pulled me into laser soldering. Three lessons from taking an idea from the lab to customers' production lines.Sat, 26 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTStartupLaser solderingProductRetrospective