The Zhitong Finance App learned that despite the recent increase in global market fluctuations and a significant decline in artificial intelligence (AI) related concept stocks, Wall Street Investment Bank remains optimistic about AI infrastructure financing prospects. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said in an interview on Monday that the market's demand for financing and investment in large-scale AI infrastructure construction and related technology is still very strong, and he expects this trend to continue.
David Solomon revealed that Goldman Sachs has “moved frequently” in AI-related capital market transactions in recent weeks. He pointed out that the market still has strong investment demand for the expansion of AI infrastructure production and related technologies that support the development of AI.
Shares in the AI industry chain, including chip makers and “emerging cloud service providers,” have been under pressure for several days due to the US midterm elections and investors' re-evaluation of returns on capital expenditure of hundreds of billions of dollars. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell more than 5% intraday on Thursday (5th), then the decline narrowed. David Solomon pointed out that the overall current market environment “is still quite constructive.”
Referring to recent market fluctuations, David Solomon said that factors such as changes in the political environment will lead to “repricing and market fluctuations,” and the market is currently experiencing such fluctuations. He acknowledged that changes in the political environment were one of the factors driving asset price readjustment, but emphasized that this was a normal fluctuation in the market. At the same time, he stressed that he has always been convinced that artificial intelligence has strong potential and can boost productivity in the US economy in the long run.
David Solomon refuted environmental and land disputes arising from data center construction in the US. He believes that core infrastructure, such as data centers, is critical to America's economic growth, and can be completed in a compliant and responsible manner. He stressed that there is a real demand for computing power. If the development of data centers in the US is blocked, the migration of production capacity will be a natural result, but he admits that he does not want this kind of infrastructure to go outside of the US.
The market is currently paying close attention to the progress of initial public offering (IPO) preparations for the AI model development agency Anthropic. Goldman Sachs is one of the main underwriters for this IPO. If the listing is implemented, the transaction will be an important indicator for testing the real demand for AI assets in the open market.
When asked about Anthropic's listing progress, David Solomon declined to comment in detail, only saying, “We'll wait and see. If this IPO continues to advance, we'll see how the final market reacts.” He added that the current overall market environment is still quite favorable.
Furthermore, David Solomon publicly stated in June of this year that when the market was preparing for the listing of many large AI companies, investor sentiment once entered the “greed” mode; he warned at the time that greed “can be transformed into fear very quickly, but that doesn't mean it will happen.”
Market analysts believe that at a time when the return on capital expenditure of large technology companies is being questioned, the attitude of financial institutions on underwriting and financing activities will be a key weather vane for observing whether risk appetite in the AI sector can stabilize.