Asset-management behemoth Brookfield says the AI buildout is no bubble, as tech giants leading the charge have balance sheets better than most governments in the world.
In a new CNBC interview, Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt says the scale and difficulty of deploying compute and power make this era fundamentally different from bubble cycles of the past.
Flatt outlines the practical hurdles that separate talk from execution.
“It’s not [a bubble]. And it isn’t, because it’s hard to do this. Everyone says they’re going to build something. It’s not easy to build. You need to find the connectivity. You need to find the power. You need to build the buildings. You have to get the chips.”
Flatt puts a price tag on AI’s industrial scale, highlighting the barriers that limit participation to the world’s largest companies and most credit-worthy governments.
“And you need to have $50 billion per AI factory. This can’t be done by everybody. And remember, most of these are being contracted to the major technology companies. And they all today have credit better than most countries in the world. And therefore, your credit counterparties are almost as good or better than a US Treasury.”
Flatt expands the argument from corporate competition to national survival, urging governments to treat AI infrastructure like past industrial-era public works projects.
“The countries in the world used to build roads and railways, and today what they need to build is AI infrastructure. And if you do not, in a country, if you do not have sovereign and AI infrastructure to be able to lay the pipe for your companies, they will leave.”
Flatt says America is leading the AI race and warns that countries staying on the sidelines will be left in the dust.
“That’s what America’s figured out first. That’s what this, with the administration, that’s what the deal we just did with them is, and there’s going to be a number more, because we need power and we need AI data centers in America, and every country needs them. And if you don’t have it, you’ll be behind.”
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