The artificial intelligence boom may seem unstoppable, but a growing number of investors and observers are increasingly worried that this surge resembles a bubble on the verge of bursting.

After the Nasdaq technology index rose more than 50% from its April lows, it has fallen nearly 5% this month. Investors fear it may take longer than expected to generate the major profits they had hoped for after pouring trillions of dollars into the next wave of technology.

Those who witnessed the dot-com bubble and its collapse in the early 2000s say parts of today’s enthusiasm feel familiar. Optimists, however, believe the situation is different this time.

Nvidia, the AI-focused chipmaker, has led the stock-market rally, becoming the world’s most valuable company on the back of investor excitement surrounding artificial intelligence. The Santa Clara–based firm produces advanced chips used by tech companies to train AI models, power data centers, robotics, and more.

Both bullish and bearish investors were waiting to see what Nvidia would reveal about the state of its business in Wednesday’s earnings report. The company kept optimism alive after reporting quarterly earnings and guidance that exceeded analyst forecasts. Its shares jumped more than 4% in early after-hours trading.

Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, said during a call after the results: “There has been a lot of talk about an AI bubble. From our point of view, we are seeing something entirely different… and just to remind you, Nvidia is not like any other accelerator. We outperform at every stage of AI.”

From social media to self-driving cars, Huang stressed that AI capable of generating content and performing tasks without human intervention will affect every industry.

Nvidia’s results may help revive AI-linked market momentum. Still, investors and analysts remain concerned about whether current stock valuations are justified for all companies entering the AI race. After the dot-com bubble, many companies disappeared, but those that survived are now among the world’s largest and most profitable firms.

The extremely high valuations of Silicon Valley’s tech giants and other major AI players have pushed investors to question when and how their bets on the future of technology will pay off. Tech firms have become more interconnected as they invest hundreds of billions of dollars into one another, as well as into data centers, AI research, and generous employee compensation packages.

In September, Nvidia said it plans to invest up to 100 billion dollars in OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT — to fund extensive construction of data centers hosting equipment used to store and process the enormous volumes of information required to run AI systems. OpenAI has also committed to purchasing at least ten gigawatts of Nvidia’s AI chips for its data centers.

According to an October research note from New Street Research, the capital expenditure needed to meet OpenAI’s computing requirements could reach 130 billion dollars by 2027, meaning OpenAI alone could spend 52 billion dollars on Nvidia technology.

Despite its massive valuation of around 500 billion dollars, OpenAI continues to lose billions as it spends heavily on infrastructure, computing capacity, and other expenses.

OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in a talk at Stanford University last year: “Whether we lose 500 million dollars a year or 5 billion or 50 billion, it doesn’t matter. I truly don’t care. It’s going to be expensive… but it’s absolutely worth it.”

But as the losses pile up, investor concerns have grown.

Around 45% of global fund managers surveyed by Bank of America said there is an “AI bubble” that could negatively affect the economy and markets.

Debate will continue over whether a bubble truly exists.

Samuel Hammond, chief economist at the American Innovation Foundation, said he does not believe AI investments are in a bubble, though he expects winners and losers: “Companies getting massive valuations only because they added the word ‘AI’ to their pitch but fail to execute could see their value collapse to zero. But most stock-market gains are being driven by large-cap tech companies like Nvidia and Google.”

Hammond noted that tech firms are financing these huge data-center projects through equity rather than debt, reducing the likelihood of a bubble ready to burst.

Strategists at Goldman Sachs wrote in an October research paper that although there are risks of overinvestment, technology companies have delivered earnings growth and maintain strong balance sheets: “While the success of dominant tech firms is evident, this does not necessarily imply a market bubble about to burst.”

However, Gary Smith, an economics professor at Pomona College and author, warned of an AI bubble, pointing to OpenAI’s losses, circular funding among tech firms, and limits to AI capabilities.

In an opinion piece for MarketWatch co-written with Jeffrey Funk, he wrote: “OpenAI is in a very fragile position… and when the AI bubble bursts, it will be among the first casualties.”

Some analysts have compared the current data-center boom to the 1990s telecom boom, when companies invested 500 billion dollars to lay fiber-optic cables to meet the rapid growth of internet usage, resulting in a massive surplus of unused “dark fiber” that sat idle for years.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the BBC that the tech sector has gone through periods of excess: “We can look back at the internet. Clearly, there was a lot of overinvestment… but nobody doubts now that the internet was a profound transformation.”

US stock indices rose on Thursday as strong demand for the technology sector followed Nvidia’s latest quarterly results.

Wall Street also drew solid support from the September nonfarm payrolls report, which showed the US economy added 119,000 jobs — well above expectations of 50,000 and compared with a loss of 4,000 jobs in August.

Chipmakers surged after industry giant Nvidia reported robust third-quarter results and issued upbeat guidance for the current quarter.

As of 15:29 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.5% (685 points) to 46,831. The broader S&P 500 gained 1.8% (122 points) to 6,764, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.4% (540 points) to 23,099.

Copper consumption fell sharply short of expectations as China's period of peak industrial activity draws to a close, with manufacturing operating rates slipping to their lowest seasonal levels in years.

This marks yet another example of how quickly demand can retreat in the world’s largest consumer market for copper when prices rise too sharply. Global prices surged to record highs late last month following a series of disruptions at mines around the world.

ING commodity strategists Eva Manthey and Warren Patterson noted that Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, has raised its price forecasts for both this year and next.

Copper supply faces a wave of disruptions

Chile’s copper agency Cochilco said global supplies have been strained by disruptions, alongside lower interest rates, a weaker dollar, and a resilient global economy. The agency now expects average prices of 4.45 dollars per pound this year and 4.55 dollars in 2026, according to its quarterly report. Its previous projection had been 4.30 dollars per pound for both years.

The report added that copper supplies have been disrupted this year by a series of incidents, including an accident at the El Teniente mine in Chile last July.

Cochilco now expects zero production growth in Chile this year, after previously forecasting an increase of 1.5%. In 2026, Chilean output is projected to grow 2.5% to reach 5.6 million metric tons. However, the outlook depends heavily on El Teniente operating normally next year — something state-owned miner Codelco says is unlikely.

As for trading, copper futures for March delivery rose 0.2% to 5.10 dollars per pound at 14:29 GMT.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) posted a mild rebound on Thursday, trading near 92,000 dollars as stronger-than-expected earnings from Nvidia (NVDA) helped lift risk assets and pushed cryptocurrency-mining stocks higher. The move comes after a volatile week marked by record outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs and a brief drop below the key 90,000-dollar level.

Nvidia’s upbeat results, released late Wednesday, temporarily eased concerns about a potential slowdown in the AI sector. The company reported third-quarter revenue of 57.01 billion dollars, up 62% year-on-year, and issued strong guidance for the fourth quarter.

CEO Jensen Huang said demand for AI chips continues to exceed supply, noting that “Blackwell sales are off the charts and cloud GPUs are fully sold out,” with computing needs accelerating across both AI training and inference.

The optimism triggered broad pre-market gains, particularly among Bitcoin-mining companies reliant on high-performance GPUs. Cipher Mining (CIFR) rose 11%, IREN (IREN) gained 8%, and Hut 8 (HUT) advanced about 6%.

The momentum helped stabilize Bitcoin after a sharp mid-week decline driven by heavy redemptions across spot ETFs. BlackRock’s (BLK) IBIT — the world’s largest spot Bitcoin ETF — saw 523 million dollars in outflows on Wednesday, its largest single-day withdrawal since launching in January 2024, according to Farside data. The selling pushed Bitcoin to a local low near 88,400 dollars, erasing all its year-to-date gains.

Rising political pressure between Trump and the Fed intensifies monetary policy bets

The price swings come amid heightened political and monetary uncertainty in the United States. President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday for not cutting rates more aggressively, saying, “Frankly, I’d like to fire him.”

Reports indicate that Trump is seeking to remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook and appoint his economic adviser, Stephen Miran, to the FOMC — a move that could give his administration a “super-majority” aligned with more forceful interest-rate cuts.

Analysts at Bitfinex warned that if Trump succeeds in reshaping the Fed in 2026, the central bank’s independence could be at risk, prompting markets to reprice the dollar’s status as a global reserve currency and the cost of long-term borrowing.

“From historical precedent to current tactics, Trump’s approach targets direct influence over rate-setting decisions,” analysts wrote. “The outcome would not be temporary volatility but a structural discount to institutional credibility. If the Fed is forced into aggressive easing before inflation is fully contained, the US economy risks entering an ‘early-recovery-followed-by-stagflation’ cycle. For global capital, the real danger lies in losing the last line of defense protecting US monetary policy.”