The AI race isn’t just a sprint anymore, as it has turned into a full-blown geopolitical-scale arms race.
With tech giants putting billions into chips, models, and talent, the pressure is mounting to lock in first place before the dust settles.
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What was once open-source and academic is now evolving into something far more aggressive and elusive.
Though investors chase the moonshots, the real battlefield may be shifting beneath their feet.
That said, billionaire Mark Cuban’s latest take on the matter might just change how we view the entire game.
Mark Cuban says the next AI winners will own more than just code, they’ll own control.
Image source: Travis P. Ball/Getty Images
AI spending hits overdrive as tech giants chase dominance
Big Tech’s been relentless with AI this year, having hit the gas and never looked back.
Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta have collectively committed north of $320 billion to AI infrastructure this year alone. Most of that cash is reserved for growing data centers and scaling up compute for massive AI models.
The logic is straightforward: with more chips and data, your AI becomes more powerful. Moreover, the spending spree reflects that urgency.
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Microsoft’s multiyear bet on OpenAI gives it the front-run access to bleeding-edge models from ChatGPT.
Google, not to be outdone, showed off its seventh-generation TPU chip, which could handle even larger neural networks.
Amazon’s AWS launched its own Trainium and Inferentia chips, as it looks to undercut rivals on cost for enterprise AI workloads.
Also, behind the silicon, a talent war is raging at a breakneck pace.
Record compensation packages, in the region of $1 million upfront, are being offered to researchers. Meta, for example, reportedly dangled $100 million signing bonuses to AI bigwigs, shaking up the tech job market.
Then there’s the new gold, Big Data. Tech firms are looking to shore up proprietary datasets, while forging exclusive licensing deals to feed their models.
From health care to finance, whoever has the best data gets the best results, and the biggest moat.
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Investors have taken notice.
Nvidia crossed the $4 trillion valuation mark, and AI-focused ETFs have seen historic inflows.
However, this rapid progress comes with its fair share of risks.
All this spending comes with pressure to deliver revenue quickly, and missed monetization windows could result in today’s capex into tomorrow’s red ink.
IP is king: Mark Cuban sees AI future turning cutthroat
Maverick investor Mark Cuban isn’t mincing words about where the AI arms race is heading.
In a recent post, Cuban declared “IP is KING in an AI world,” warning that the current AI era will be shaped by hoarding, exclusivity, and high-stakes poaching.
With tech giants looking to spend close to $1 trillion on AI dominance, he said the race will become more about walls, moats, and closed systems.
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Naturally, no one’s looking to shell out over $1 trillion to come in second place, which could be a precursor to a full-scale war for talent, IP, and strategic advantage.
Cuban predicts a major wave of poaching and IP lock-ups as tech behemoths look to scramble to secure an edge.
Big tech is hiring away talent and advancing their models, with the likes of Meta reportedly having dedicated billions for AI hiring.
But Cuban’s warning isn’t just for Big Tech.
He’s warning creators, researchers, and engineers to wise up. He advises them to encrypt their work, silo codes, or get paid for it behind a paywall. The era of “publish or perish,” he argues, is over.
Naturally, this shift has massive implications for top AI stocks like Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Tesla, which continue leading the pack in terms of AI spend. Nvidia in particular has reaped the rewards of early GPU IP bets.
For investors, Cuban’s take is more like a playbook.
It’s best to hunt for businesses with deep patent portfolios, proprietary data, and elusive partnerships.
Also, if you want exposure without picking winners, diversified AI-focused ETFs may be your smartest hedge.
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