00:00 Chris
There are a lot of people who are raising questions again about AI and the data center build out. We remain bullish on that. We continue to track rising AI adoption, widening usage. Not not too dissimilar from what we saw way back with the internet. So we we’re, you know, cautiously optimistic, bullish longer term on that. I do think we have to get through this period of earnings for a couple different reasons. on the AI data center trade, let’s hear from Microsoft, Google and other hyper scalers that they are successfully monetizing that backlog that they’ve, you know, that they need to chew through and deliver on. I think that would give the market some greater comfort about the capital spending levels that we’re seeing, not just from the hyper scalers, but also what we’re hearing about, um, you know, demand and corresponding build out by Micron, SK Hex, you know, Samsung even and and and others out there.
01:05 Chris
We’ve got another round of uncertainty in the marketplace, in part because of, you know, renewed tension in the Middle East. You know, where are oil prices really going to shake out? How long will the straight of Hormuz once again be closed? What does it do to supply chains?
01:25 Josh
You mentioned those hyper scalars. Do you think Chris when they report, they’re going to tell tell us, you know what, that CapX, yes, it’s going to keep going higher this year or next.
01:36 Chris
So, I actually wrote about this last week and what I hope to hear is that they do not do that. Because I think to the extent that they step it up yet again, it’s going to make the market increasingly nervous. There’s plenty of time to raise their capital spending numbers, and we already know those numbers will be even higher next year than they are this year. So, you know, respectfully, Josh, what’s the rush? right? Show that, you know, people are taking up your AI products, show that you can monetize it, get your margins up. And then one quarter, two quarters from now, if you’ve got to take your CAPEX up, do it.
