Bloomberg Surveillance · Thursday, July 9, 2026
Bob Elliott of Unlimited Funds argues that despite significant capital expenditures in AI, the projected revenue growth needed for a reasonable return is "extraordinary" and unlikely to materialize. He points to hyperscalers needing to add trillions in revenue within five years, a scale not seen historically, suggesting the AI investment boom may lead to poor returns.
“Well, I think the. Basic picture of if you look at a plan five trillion dollars of capex over the next five years or cumulatively through twenty thirty, and you think about what sort of revenues have to come on that five trillion of capex in order to get anywhere close to a reasonable return. You're talking about at a minimum a few trillion dollars, right two three four trillion dollars of revenue in order to make a good return, and that is an extraordinary amount of revenue that has to happen.”
“If you look at hyperscalers today, what do they make in the last twelve months one point five trillion, So you're talking about over the next five years they're going to add on top of the one point five trillion, they're going to add, you know, three four trillion dollars of additional revenue.”
“It is largely impossible that we're going to see this sort of revenue.”