Infinite cardinal powers under GCH ($\lambda ={\kappa }^{\mu }\text{ for infinite }\kappa ,\mu ⟺\mathrm{cf}(\lambda )>{\aleph }_0$)

Assume the Generalized continuum hypothesis. For necessity, König theorem for cardinal numbers gives ${\rho }^{\mathrm{cf}(\rho )}>\rho$ for every infinite cardinal. But $\lambda ={\kappa }^{\mu }$ implies ${\lambda }^{\mu }=\lambda$ by the currying law for cardinal exponentiation, so $\mathrm{cf}(\lambda )>\mu$. This direction uses only ZFC. Conversely, uncountable cofinality bounds the range of every countable sequence in $\lambda$. Under GCH, each smaller infinite cardinal $\nu$ satisfies ${\nu }^{{\aleph }_0}\le 2^{\nu }={\nu }^{+}\le \lambda$. There are only $\lambda$ ordinal bounds to consider, giving ${\lambda }^{{\aleph }_0}=\lambda$ and the representation with base $\lambda$ and exponent ${\aleph }_0$.