원문 보기
regarding the correct execution of these things. So, we know this can all be a little confusing. What exactly does this mean? Is it the conversion of computing power into something like a regular commodity, like oil, corn, or wheat? Or is it something bigger, perhaps riskier or more profitable? Let's discuss this from all sides with us.
To start, Ed Yardeni is here in the studio, Leslie Picker is here in the studio, and Christina Parsons has joined us. Leslie, I want to start with you because you covered Blue AI, private credit, and all these derivatives, which I think 2026 has been a tough year. What is Wall Street's initial reaction to what is perceived as a new investment class?
That's right. I think that's the right way to describe it. Many were somewhat distracted by the headline figure of $500 billion. The real news here is that they're trying to create a product, a new investment asset class, an asset-backed financing class that could be similar to aircraft leasing or accounts receivable .
These are all pretty established things. Yes . A farmer grows wheat and sells the future harvest to generate cash flow. This is Nvidia handing over some of its funding. Correct me if I'm wrong. and maybe some of the risk to Wall Street, and therefore maybe to our audience, because ultimately I'm willing to bet that this will become something we can all just buy.
So, the way to think about it is this: when you're going to buy a car, think of the car as chips, for example. You go there; You can pay cash if you want, or take out a car loan. And you know that there is a set depreciation schedule for a car; you know roughly what the provision will be. All of this is set for chips and computing, but it's not yet defined.
There are other parts of the AI infrastructure industry where you already have ABF installed, data centers, and other parts of the ecosystem. But regarding chips and computing, it's not yet established because depreciation is a bit unclear. People haven't yet fully realized what future cash flows might look like.
So this essentially creates a market. This creates a product. Here are six financiers who will come and say: if you want to finance, well, chips, you don't have to sell tens of billions of dollars of debt to pay for the development of AI infrastructure to pay for these chips. We will organize a financing plan for you .
I think the main question will be at what price. And this is what Jonathan Gray from Blackstone was hinting at: in the initial phase, you might be dealing with counterparties that have negative cash flow. Prices may be high, but over time they expect them to come down and attract a wider range of banks as well.
Does this bother you even a little ? Well, it's too early to express a firm opinion on this matter . So far, my reaction is the same as the market's— none. First, it is a memorandum of understanding, and memoranda of understanding have not had the best reputation lately. So that's just all it is . There were no specifics about how this would happen.
I see an analogy with REITs, well, sort of for data centers. We already have them, these are kind of financial platforms that invest in data centers, and, you know, they have gone up and down. I am if you are, since many people are following you. Certainly. Let's say a retail investor said, and again , I don't know if we're talking to them, but they said, "I have the opportunity to get, I don't know what number it is , 8, 10, 12%, maybe less , on this two- three-year asset-backed financing deal, and it's backed essentially by computing power, maybe by rental streams." Would you be against it, or could it have a sensible place in people's portfolios?
It could have a smart place, but I think it would be, I don't think you would buy the entire asset class in general, you would have to be quite selective. And I think there's a little too much hype about this whole thing so far. Calling it an asset class...it's a factory. This is this is a data factory. So I don't know if we're actually creating something radically new.
Comments 0