{"id":337710,"date":"2025-12-08T21:45:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/337710\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T21:45:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T21:45:12","slug":"ai-winners-picks-and-shovel-stocks-not-meta-and-microsoft-nvidia-nasdaqnvda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/337710\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Winners? ‘Picks And Shovel’ Stocks, Not Meta And Microsoft – NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AI infrastructure build-out has not yet peaked. In fact, AI cap ex spending is accelerating, said Ben Powell, chief investment strategist for APAC at the BlackRock Investment Institute.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking at Abu Dhabi Finance Week on Monday, Powell outlined his investment thesis: the AI \u201ccapex super boom\u201d is creating a massive opportunity, but the smartest money may not be in the hyperscalers like Alphabet, Inc. (NASDAQ:<\/a>GOOGL<\/a>) (NASDAQ:<\/a>GOOG<\/a>), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:<\/a>MSFT<\/a>) and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:<\/a>META<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Next: Nvidia CEO Says Nuclear Is AI\u2019s Future \u2014 Oklo, NuScale Ready To Roar Back?<\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, the BlackRock strategist pointed to the \u201cpicks and shovels\u201d strategy of investing in the companies building the physical infrastructure that powers AI.<\/p>\n

Follow the Capex<\/p>\n

Powell said that the hyperscalers are locked in a \u201cwinner-takes-all\u201d arms race to survive, where the tech giants are forced to spend unprecedented amounts of capital on infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The hyperscalers’ race to build-out AI capacity guarantees a massive, sustained flow of cash into the pockets of their suppliers.<\/p>\n

What are the AI \u2018Picks and Shovels?’<\/p>\n

In the 1849 Gold Rush, the surest way to get rich wasn\u2019t to dig for gold, but to sell picks, shovels and denim jeans to the miners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Powell identified the modern equivalents in the context of AI:<\/p>\n

Chipmakers: The obvious beneficiaries providing AI processing power (GPUs). Examples include NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA<\/a>) and Broadcom, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Energy Producers: AI data centers need enormous amounts of power. Utilities and renewable energy firms like NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE<\/a>) and Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CCEG<\/a>) are essential to keeping the lights on.<\/p>\n

Commodities & Materials: Specifically, copper and wiring manufacturers needed to connect the grid and data centers physically. Examples include Freeport-McMoRan, Inc. (NYSE:FCX<\/a>) and Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE:SCCO<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Infrastructure: The builders of the data centers and cooling systems like Vertiv Holdings, LLC (NYSE:VRT<\/a>) and EMCOR Group Inc. (NYSE:EME<\/a>) .\u00a0
\nThe Takeaway<\/p>\n

Hyperscalers face the risks of overspending and intense competition, while the \u201cpicks and shovels\u201d companies have a clear line of sight to revenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The capex deluge continues. The money is very, very clear,” Powell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investors can benefit from the AI revolution by looking to the “traditional picks and shovels capex super boom, which still feels like it’s got more to go,” he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read Next:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo: Shutterstock\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The AI infrastructure build-out has not yet peaked. In fact, AI cap ex spending is accelerating, said Ben…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,93297,14993,14990,22649,14994,14989,14988,170137,170146,170138,35592,170139,170140,170141,170142,170143,88484,170144,170145,170147,170148,170149,170150,35595,74],"class_list":["post-337710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-category-large-cap","tag-category-movers","tag-category-news","tag-category-tech","tag-category-trading-ideas","tag-cms-wordpress","tag-pageisbzpro-bz","tag-symbol-avgo","tag-symbol-cceg","tag-symbol-eme","tag-symbol-fcx","tag-symbol-goog","tag-symbol-googl","tag-symbol-meta","tag-symbol-msft","tag-symbol-nee","tag-symbol-nvda","tag-symbol-scco","tag-symbol-vrt","tag-tag-ai","tag-tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-tag-ben-powell","tag-tag-data-centers","tag-tag-expert-ideas","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}