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[Global Times Special Correspondent Wang Pinzhi] The Financial Times recently sorted out the latest financial report data of American technology giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Google's parent company Alphabet and found that American technology giants significantly increased their investment in the field of artificial intelligence in the first half of this year, with the total investment of the above companies reaching 106 billion US dollars.

For some time, Wall Street investors have been questioning how such "unprecedented huge investment" can generate returns, but the above-mentioned US technology giants have said that "investing more than 100 billion US dollars is just the beginning, and investment in artificial intelligence will be further increased in the next 18 months."

The statement made by Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, last week directly reflects the mentality and predictions of these American technology giants about artificial intelligence. He said: "At present, I would rather invest more before the actual need comes, rather than take the risk of being too late to catch up!"

According to reports, some industry analysts have noticed that the attitudes of technology companies and investors have begun to diverge in terms of investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Market research firm Dell'Oro Group predicts that technology companies' investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure may reach as high as $1 trillion in the next five years. Overseas asset management giant AllianceBernstein said that technology company executives are making every effort to promote artificial intelligence investment, but for investors, the business model and investment returns of artificial intelligence are still unclear, which has created a situation where technology companies urgently need to win the trust of investors. Considering the huge investment demand, this current situation does not actually make people feel at ease.

Wall Street's suspicion of the technology giants' spending money on developing artificial intelligence is reflected in the recent fluctuations in the stock prices of a number of US technology giants. From the end of July to the beginning of August, the latest financial reports released by several US technology giants were not impressive. The US non-farm data released on Thursday evening local time was lower than expected. The next day, the three major US stock indexes all fell, and the Nasdaq index, which is heavily dominated by technology stocks, fell 2.43%.

The Financial Times quoted Michael Hodel, an analyst at rating agency Morningstar, as saying that the current situation naturally reminds people of the Internet bubble in the late 1990s and early 21st century. After the bubble burst, many technology companies went bankrupt. The main difference between now and then is that the technology giants currently involved in the field of artificial intelligence are very profitable and have relatively sufficient cash flow reserves.

As technology stocks slump, Indian financial media Mint asks: Is artificial intelligence a ticking time bomb? Can AI-related stocks avoid the fate of the Internet technology bubble bursting at the turn of the century?

Fidelity Funds' official website published an article stating that today's AI investment boom is actually more like the British railway investment boom in the 1840s. At that time, 40% of the UK's GDP was invested in railway construction. However, this boom ended with oversupply, excessive duplication of construction, and low returns. In just five years, British railway stocks plummeted by 65%.