UBS says industry data points to resilient AI demand

what happened

Reuters reports that Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, believes some concerns about AI demand may be overstated. With earnings season approaching, markets are watching closely for signals on demand, spending and the longer-term outlook for the AI trade.

Haefele pointed to early adoption data for consumer AI agents, including Meta’s Muse AI assistant, which launched about a month ago. He said those figures suggest that wider use of consumer agents could add to demand for AI. Recent semiconductor-sector revenue also indicates sustained demand for computing capacity: TSMC reported a huge jump in third-quarter revenue last week, while Samsung Electronics projected a massive increase in third-quarter operating profit.

In Haefele’s view, upcoming third-quarter results should provide further evidence of strong demand for AI computing and infrastructure. He also expects hyperscaler monetisation to keep accelerating, with average cloud revenue growth forecast to have increased in the September quarter from the previous one. Consumer AI agents, he added, could create new opportunities in subscriptions, advertising and transactions while raising cloud utilisation.

why it matters

Chipmakers’ results and the adoption of consumer AI services are key signals for assessing demand for computing infrastructure and the outlook for companies exposed to the sector.

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