Graphic: AI boom sparks rally, frenzy and fear

Dominion Energy

10/06/2026 18:20

    * AI rally has lifted stock markets to record highs,
offsetting Iran war risks
    * Key to future outlook is how quickly businesses are
adopting AI Race is on to build required infrastructure 

    By Lucy Raitano, Ben Welsh and Grant Smith
    LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - An AI boom has driven stock
markets to record highs, big tech firms are piling hundreds of
billions of dollars into new tech, while consumers, workers and
businesses are grappling with existential questions unleashed by
the likes of ChatGPT and Claude.    
 Some analysts say Artificial Intelligence will boost
productivity and make businesses more profitable. But others
warn of a dystopia https://www.reuters.com/business/skittish-investors-spooked-dystopian-ai-outlooks-go-viral-2026-02-24/
 of AI-fuelled mass unemployment where some sectors no longer
exist.
    Meanwhile the market frenzy over Elon Musk's SpaceX has
reached fever pitch ahead of its IPO nL6N42H122 expected on
Thursday afternoon. 
Click here https://www.reuters.com/data/ai-boom-sparks-rally-frenzy-fear-2026-06-10/
 for the Reuters dashboard of key metrics on the AI boom. 
       
AI TRADE TURBOCHARGES STOCK MARKETS 
The AI-driven rally has helped drive equity markets to record
highs, offsetting risks created by the Iran war.
AI bellwether Nvidia  NVDA.O  alone has rocketed over 1,300%
since the end of 2022. Its quarterly earnings https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/nvidia-forecasts-quarterly-revenue-above-estimates-announces-80-billion-share-2026-05-20/,
 a gauge of the broader AI narrative, are as closely watched by
investors as some economic indicators.
    Microsoft  MSFT.O , Google-owner Alphabet  GOOGL.O  and
Amazon  AMZN.O  - dubbed "hyperscalers" because of their focus
on building AI data centers - are also popular. 
    It's not just a U.S. story. 
European tech stocks  .SX8P , which include chip-making machine
giant ASML  ASML.AS , are at their highest since 2000. South
Korea's market, home to chipmaker Samsung Electronics
 005930.KS , is near a record   .KS11 . 
SK Hynix  000660.KS  and Micron Tech  MU.O  meanwhile have been
floating in and out of the elite  group of companies with a
market capitalisation of at least $1 trillion. This group could
get bigger with upcoming new listings such as Elon Musk's SpaceX
https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/spacex-targets-175-trillion-valuation-including-greenshoe-option-record-ipo-2026-06-02/.
  
    No surprise that the tech stock surge has stoked concerns
about a bubble that could drag stocks down sharply if it pops. 
     
    
    INVESTORS GET PICKY (SOME SCARED)
 A divide https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ai-trade-splinters-investors-get-more-selective-2026-02-06/
 is emerging between companies that investors reckon will
benefit from the megatrend and those whose business models
investors suspect could be disrupted, or replaced.    
    Software and data analytics firms are recovering after a
slide in February as a new AI tool by Anthropic spooked
investors. 
    
    GET WITH THE PROGRAMME
    How quickly businesses adopt AI is key as this will give
some sense of the impact on productivity gains and jobs
markets. 
    The impact is relatively limited so far.
    Still, the U.S. Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook
Survey provides a near real-time gauge of corporate uptake. And
what happens in the United States could be a guide to what
follows in other big developed economies.
    As more workers add AI tools to their arsenal and
potentially replace the need for human input, there are
questions over how this will affect employment.
Companies are already citing AI https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/companies-cutting-jobs-investments-shift-toward-ai-2026-05-21/
 as a factor leading them to slash jobs. 
     
    INFRASTRUCTURE CAPEX BOOM
A race to build the infrastructure needed to support AI is on.
Morgan Stanley estimates big tech will spend $3 trillion between
2025 and 2028 on a global expansion of data centers.  
 The massive investment in data center projects is helping to
underpin economic growth, especially in the United States.
    Yet, data collated by DC Byte for Reuters show projects in
several major countries remain at an early stage. Around 68% of
the 679 U.S. data center projects it tracks are still not yet
being built, for instance. This figure includes all data center
projects including those for AI purposes. 
 The build-out is increasingly being funded by debt https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/five-debt-hotspots-ai-data-centre-boom-2025-12-11/,
 raising financial stability https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/bank-england-sees-risks-ai-private-credit-gilt-repo-half-yearly-update-2025-12-02/
 risk concerns.
     
    MORE POWER NEEDED, NOW
    The data center build-out is driving an unprecedented surge
in electricity demand globally, running up against power
constraints across regions, as projects grapple with ageing
grids and limited supply. 
As well as delaying projects https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/power-supply-constraints-slowing-emea-data-centre-rollout-report-says-2025-11-06/
 and forcing data centers to be more flexible https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/ceraweek-stressed-us-grid-forcing-data-centers-get-more-flexible-2026-03-26/,
 the surge is raising concern about the environmental impact https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/investors-press-amazon-microsoft-google-water-power-use-us-data-centers-2026-04-06/
 and potential for higher consumer prices https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/white-house-host-big-tech-pledge-rein-power-costs-2026-02-25/.
    Global utilities stocks have jumped roughly 40% since late
2022  .MIWO0UT00PUS .     

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AI vs. everybody    https://reut.rs/4vbbjrx
Tech companies dominate world's most valuable firms    https://reut.rs/4aC5yuy
How software stocks have performed    https://reut.rs/4ebB7MT
AI usage by US businesses    https://reut.rs/4ft2NiE
AI usage by company size    https://reut.rs/43jcmcP
Most announced data center projects have yet to be built    https://reut.rs/4uUkxIG
US electricity demand    https://reut.rs/49FOxiQ
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 (Reporting by Lucy Raitano in London; Graphics by Ben Welsh and
Grant Smith in New York; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe, Susan
Fenton and Karin Strohecker)
 ((mailto:Lucy.Raitano@thomsonreuters.com;))