What happened
A Bank of America survey indicates that a net 20% of fund managers now perceive corporate overinvestment, specifically in AI, marking the first majority since 2005. This sentiment is driven by the scale and funding mechanisms of AI capital expenditure. Concurrently, 45% of surveyed managers identified an AI bubble as the primary market tail risk, an increase from the prior month, with 53% believing AI stocks are already in a bubble. Despite these concerns, overall market sentiment remains optimistic regarding a soft economic landing and AI's transformative productivity potential.
Why it matters
The observed shift in fund manager sentiment towards AI overinvestment introduces a heightened due diligence requirement for procurement and finance teams evaluating AI-related capital expenditure. This creates an oversight burden for strategic planning and risk management functions, increasing exposure to potential misallocation of resources and inflated asset valuations within AI initiatives. The absence of clear market indicators for sustainable AI investment weakens internal financial controls related to capital allocation.
