Wealth management titan AllianceBernstein says AI adoption is only in its early stages, despite bubble calls and warnings on potential overvaluations.
In a Bloomberg interview, AllianceBernstein Chief Investment Officer Lei Qiu says AI is now spreading beyond the hyperscalers into chipmakers, networking firms, and storage providers.
She notes that the breadth of adoption signals a lasting build cycle rather than fleeting hype.
“I think what we’re seeing is actually we’re hitting an inflection point in inferencing… If you look, the AI trend and the adoption and where we’re seeing the step function and numbers is broadening out. So it’s a broader set of companies that are starting to benefit, whether it’s the networking companies or we’re seeing it in memory pricing, in storage, in hardware.
So those are all signs that, you know, in terms of AI adoption, the inferencing at the edge, things are actually happening. And to me, this is a very positive sign. That means the real adoption, which will drive continued build. So if we think about it, tech innovation, generally, we take step functions right. We kind of chug along and then all of a sudden there’s an inflection point and things really start to take off.
And I really think we are still in the early innings of that happening and supported by all the evidence that we have seen at the micro level from the company as well as these mega trends that you’re seeing at the big macro level.”
She also cautions against blindly listening to analysts who are calling for an AI bubble. She says the firm is doing its homework and finding plenty of golden plays in the AI space.
“It’s easy to call everything a bubble. But in the underneath that actually there are opportunities.”
AllianceBernstein is a global investment manager overseeing about $785 billion in client assets across equities, fixed income, alternatives, and private markets.