00:00Has the AI bubble burst? Technology stocks have been riding the AI boom since late 2022.
00:06The rally generated trillions of dollars in the value of stock for companies like Palantir,
00:11Microsoft, Google and NVIDIA in the US stock market. At one point, the stock of data and AI
00:17company Palantir was up by a whopping 2,541.9%. Chip makers like SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics
00:26in South Korea also experienced massive financial booms driven by AI data center demand until it all
00:32came crashing down after November 3rd. That was the day that the US Democratic Party made a sweep of
00:38seats in both chambers of Congress in the country's midterm elections. Many Democratic candidates have
00:44made pushing back on data centers and AI part of their agenda. Since then, AI stocks have fallen on
00:51Wall Street over fears that a Democratic win could slow down the construction of new data centers
00:56and lead to stricter regulations over AI development. On top of this, the investigation into NVIDIA's
01:03ex-CEO Jensen Huang's affair with a woman who US intelligence claims is a spy for China could also
01:09act as a dampener on the industry. NVIDIA's share price is already down 30.6% from its high in
01:15October.
01:16While it is not yet established whether Huang did anything wrong, future exports of NVIDIA chips
01:22that power much of AI development could come under scrutiny, especially where the scandal has been
01:27linked to a Singaporean company which allegedly has a data center in Malaysia. Malaysia is a chipmaker.
01:34If the Wall Street sell-off turns into a spending slowdown, this might affect global tech firms'
01:39development of data centers in Malaysia as well as our exports. If the US decides to restrict exports
01:45of advanced chips, projects could take longer or cost more. And that might affect the AI ambitions of many
01:51countries, including Malaysia's very own.
