Ted Pick, CEO of Morgan Stanley, stated that capital expenditure in the artificial intelligence sector could reach $10 trillion to $15 trillion over the next decade, solidifying the technology's position as the most significant economic transformation since the birth of the internet. Regarding the scale of investment in data centers and computing, Pick estimated that leading hyperscale technology companies might deploy $800 billion to $1 trillion annually over a period of seven to twelve years. Despite Wall Street's skepticism about the short-term profitability of large-scale cloud investments, Pick believes the deployment is still in its formative stage. "We are probably in the second inning of a nine-inning game. $10 trillion to $15 trillion is a very wide range, but considering such an amount of capital to build this product and drive it forward is not unreasonable," Pick said. Pick contrasted the projected spending with stock valuations, noting that while the final total cost of $10 trillion to $15 trillion is substantial, it remains relatively small compared to the approximately $70 trillion market capitalization of the S&P 500 Index. He added that $2 trillion to $3 trillion of this amount has already been committed or put into use. Pick believes that the returns on this investment will be enduring in the long run, estimating that the productivity dividend could increase real U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 50 to 70 basis points annually.
