🌐 AI spending arms race only 15% complete, says Wall Street analyst
Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives pushed back against Thursday's selloff in Tesla and Alphabet shares, arguing the artificial intelligence capital spending buildout is still in early stages.
Tesla stock fell 14.5% and Alphabet dropped nearly 7% despite posting revenue beats and strong cloud growth. Ives characterized the pullback as a timing problem, not a valuation issue. "We're only 15% of the way through" an AI arms race among hyperscalers, he told CNBC's Power Lunch, comparing the spending sprint to early Las Vegas Strip construction—where buildings came first and payoffs followed.
On Tesla specifically, Ives said investor patience is fading over delayed returns on autonomous driving and Optimus robotics, though he stopped short of abandoning the thesis. He also estimated better-than-80% odds that SpaceX eventually acquires Tesla. …
July 24, 2026 168 1
