Empower’s Marta Norton says the AI trade has shifted from a corporate growth driver to a matter of sovereign competition, likening the technology to the Cold War space race.
In a Bloomberg Technology interview, the chief investment strategist at Empower says companies appear aligned with the Trump administration’s policy priorities, underscoring AI’s strategic significance beyond commercial applications.
“It’s a pretty fascinating time. I mean, we’re looking at company after company that seems to be very in tune to what the Trump administration wants. And I think it underscores this idea that AI isn’t just a form of secular growth for companies and for the economy, but it’s something that is akin to the space race in terms of sovereign interest.”
She adds that geopolitical tensions could shape demand patterns in unpredictable ways, but notes that domestic appetite for AI remains robust regardless of global splits.
“I think one consideration here is what does demand look like if we’re looking at a more bifurcated world where potentially US and China aren’t necessarily buying from each other as much as they are jockeying with each other when it comes to AI?
I’m not sure that necessarily changes the whole AI narrative. We know that there’s massive, massive amounts of demand even here just domestically, but I think it’s a whole new dimension that we have to consider as we take a look forward and try to project expectations.”
But in the short term, Norton warns the sector looks primed for a correction after its steep ascent since April.
“We’re at a point where it makes some sense to rebalance, to take some profits. We’ve had this tremendous run since April 8th, where we’ve seen a lot of these companies recover. Even something like the Mag 7, which had a much bigger hit in the first part of the year due to DeepSeek, even that area of the market is beginning to look pricey…
It really wouldn’t take much, something coming out of left field like we saw with DeepSeek, to maybe have people pull back a bit.”
Empower is the second-largest retirement services provider in the US, administering about $1.8 trillion in assets for over 19 million individuals. The company is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado.
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