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The world is obsessed with artificial intelligence, but BlackRock says most people are betting on the wrong players. While investors chase flashy AI models and headline-grabbing startups, BlackRock’s top strategist Ben Powell argues that the real winners of this trillion-dollar boom are hiding in plain sight.

Speaking at Abu Dhabi Finance Week, Powell revealed that AI capital spending hasn’t even reached its peak. In fact, it’s accelerating—fast. And the companies supplying the “picks and shovels” of the AI revolution—chips, power, materials, and infrastructure—are positioned to dominate far more than the flashy model developers fighting a winner-takes-all battle.

According to Powell, the world’s largest tech firms are scrambling to secure one thing: enough hardware and electricity to fuel the AI explosion. And that desperation is sending global investment, borrowing, and spending into overdrive.

The message from BlackRock is clear: If you want to find the strongest—and safest—winners of the AI era, don’t look at the models. Look at the machinery powering them.

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The AI Spending Boom Is Just Getting Started

AI Infrastructure Capex Is Surging

According to Powell, the current wave of capital pouring into AI infrastructure isn’t slowing—it’s accelerating. Tech giants are pushing harder than ever to build the data centers, servers, chips, and energy systems needed to support AI’s insatiable demand.

And unlike software models, which can rise and fall overnight, infrastructure investments are long-term, unavoidable, and extremely profitable for suppliers.

Hyperscalers Are in a Global Arms Race

Companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are locked in an expensive race to dominate AI. Whoever controls the most compute power wins. And that means:

More chips
More data centers
More power
More cooling
More raw materials
More borrowing

Powell says this competition is so intense that hyperscalers are issuing record levels of debt to fund their infrastructure binge. The AI war isn’t cheap—and the companies supplying the hardware are enjoying the spoils.

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Why BlackRock Loves the “Picks and Shovels” Strategy

Lessons From the Gold Rush

In the 1800s, the people who made consistent money weren’t the gold miners—they were the ones selling shovels, pans, and picks.

BlackRock believes the same pattern is happening in AI.

AI model developers face unpredictable competition and constant disruption. But the companies providing the essential components—chips, servers, power grids, copper wiring, equipment manufacturers—get steady, growing demand no matter who wins.

The Clear Winners: Hardware, Power, and Materials

Powell says the strongest long-term opportunities lie in:

Chipmakers
Semiconductor tool suppliers
Data center builders
Power utilities
Renewable energy developers
Copper and materials producers
Cooling and thermal management tech firms

These companies don’t need to guess which AI model dominates. Their profits grow as long as AI demand keeps rising—which BlackRock believes is inevitable.

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The Hidden Backbone of AI: Chips, Electricity, and Copper

Chips Are the Heart of the AI Economy

The race for advanced GPUs and accelerators has already pushed companies to spend billions. Supply shortages remain a major obstacle, and leading chipmakers simply can’t keep up.

That demand won’t slow anytime soon. In fact, Powell suggests we’re still in the early innings.

Electricity: The New Currency of AI

AI runs on power—massive amounts of it. Data centers consume enormous electricity, and future AI models will require even more.

This has turned utilities and energy producers into unexpected winners of the AI boom.

Firms generating power—whether through traditional or renewable methods—may experience some of their largest growth periods in decades.

The Copper Crunch

AI data centers rely heavily on copper wiring. As AI infrastructure expands globally, the need for copper skyrockets. Powell highlights copper manufacturers as one of the most overlooked but crucial beneficiaries of the spending surge.

Copper shortages could become one of the biggest bottlenecks in the AI economy.

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Hyperscalers’ Desperation Is Fueling a Global Investment Frenzy

A Monstrous Capex Wave

Powell describes the current AI infrastructure investment wave as a deluge rather than a cycle. This isn’t a boom that will crest soon. It’s building power and speed.

Tech giants are spending aggressively because they believe AI dominance will determine their future relevance. Whoever controls the most compute and the most energy wins the platform wars of the next decade.

Debt Issuance Is Exploding

Hyperscalers aren’t funding this with cash flow alone. They’re borrowing—massively. Global debt issuance tied to AI infrastructure is rising at one of the fastest rates ever seen in the tech industry.

That level of investment doesn’t happen unless the payoff is expected to be enormous.

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The Bottom Line: If You Want to Win the AI Race, Don’t Bet on the Flash. Bet on the Foundations.

BlackRock’s message is loud and clear: model developers may dominate headlines, but the real, reliable winners are the companies supplying the hardware, materials, and power behind AI.

AI needs compute. It needs energy. It needs copper. It needs physical infrastructure on a massive scale.

And those needs aren’t temporary—they’re exploding.

While the world chases the next breakout AI app, BlackRock is quietly loading up on the companies that will profit no matter which model comes out on top.