NEW YORK: Billionaire Michael Novogratz has said artificial intelligence (AI) is in the “biggest bubble of our lifetime”, and investors should jump in.
Gains in AI-linked shares helped push the S&P 500 Index to a record high Tuesday, with chip darling Nvidia Corp’s market value approaching US$6 trillion.
While the relentless march higher in long-term borrowing costs is clouding the outlook, as Novogratz sees it, such headwinds aren’t enough to derail the bull run.
“Bubbles don’t end like we are today,” he said on Tuesday on a panel at the “Greenwich Economic Forum” in Greenwich, Connecticut. “I know how bubbles end, and they end spectacularly, and this isn’t spectacular enough.”
For the founder and chief executive officer of cryptocurrency conglomerate Galaxy Digital Inc, AI-linked stocks still look cheap on a price-to-earnings basis.
“If you were not invested in AI, you might as well just go home and put your head in a bucket of ice,” he said.
Galaxy has two businesses, one that revolves around crypto and digital assets, and a growing part that’s focused on AI infrastructure. Its operations span trading, lending, market making, venture investments, and bitcoin mining.
It has begun repurposing some of its mining infrastructure to provide greater computing capacity for AI workloads.
With worries swirling about the risk China will surpass the United States in the race to develop AI, that makes it less likely the industry and regulators will put brakes on its efforts to advance the technology.
There is a real feeling “with both the Democratic and the Republican Party that this is somewhat existential for us to get before China gets. Hence, we’re going to have a really hard time slowing AI down, even to the level that the guys building it want to slow it down”.
Meanwhile, he sees a case for strength in crypto assets amid growing concerns over the outlook for government debt.
Bitcoin has recovered from its mid-year lows, though at US$83,000 on Wednesday it remains well below its peak of US$126,000 a year ago. — Bloomberg
