AI trade splinters as investors get more selective

The global AI trade is starting to fracture as soaring capex, rising debt loads and doubts over who will profit from the technology force investors to draw sharper lines. When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, anything linked to the artificial intelligence theme surged - from chipmakers and software firms to raw-materials suppliers ‌and even companies most exposed to AI disruption. That lifted equity and debt markets to levels that have drawn bubble warnings from regulators and investors, even as the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta mapped ‌out hundreds of billions of dollars in spending.