Lisa Shalett, the chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley’s (NYSE:MS) wealth management business, has expressed her concerns about the current market boom, which she believes is heavily reliant on massive capital investments in generative artificial intelligence.
AI Spending Surge Could Trigger Dotcom-Style Risk
Shalett, in an interview with Fortune this week, said the over reliance on generative AI capital expenditures was a potential risk to the market’s stability. She warned that if this narrative falters, it could lead to a “not pretty” situation, similar to the dotcom bubble burst in 2000.
Shalett believes that the market may not experience a “Cisco moment” in the next nine months, referring to the dotcom bubble burst and the subsequent 80% stock plunge of the network gear maker. But it could potentially face one within the next 24 months, she said.
"At the end of the day … this is not going to be pretty,” Shalett stated.
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AI Deals Surge
The executive’s concerns are centered around recent multibillion-dollar deals aimed at scaling up data-center infrastructure, noting that Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), the world’s most valuable company with a market cap of over $4.5 trillion, is at the core of many of these deals.
In September, Nvidia poured $100 billion into OpenAI in a landmark deal, coming just days after committing $5 billion to Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).
The warnings about a potential AI bubble are not new.
Earlier this month, prominent figures like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder, Jeff Bezos, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO David Solomon, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also raised concerns about the AI bubble.
The Bank of England recently warned that the bursting of the AI valuation bubble, along with the loss of faith in the U.S. Federal Reserve’s independence, could trigger a sharp global market correction.
Despite these warnings, Goldman Sachs has argued that the current AI-driven tech boom is fundamentally different from past financial bubbles and is fundamentally healthier.
Benzinga's Edge Rankings place Nvidia in the 93rd percentile for quality and the 84th percentile for momentum, reflecting its strong performance in both areas. Check the detailed report here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
