SINGAPORE — The CEOs of Intel and Broadcom have warned that access to capital could be a major constraint on the artificial intelligence boom, even as demand for computing infrastructure continues to outstrip supply.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said financing could be a bigger hurdle to AI expansion than a lack of semiconductors, memory chips or power, as the industry rushes to build the infrastructure needed to power increasingly sophisticated models.
“I think the biggest constraint might be capital,” Hock Tan said at the DBS Asia Future Forward conference in Singapore on Monday.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan similarly expressed concerns about funding, pointing to the rising cost of capital and questions about whether companies investing heavily in AI will ultimately generate sufficient returns.
“If there’s a challenge up front, it’s capital and cost of capital, and the other part is long-term, and people want to know the ROI,” he said.
Their comments highlight new challenges for the AI industry, which has poured billions into data centers, advanced chips and power infrastructure in anticipation of a surge in demand for computing power.
The warning comes as rising borrowing costs threaten to complicate financing for technology companies investing heavily in AI infrastructure. Rising bond yields could make it more expensive to finance data center construction or chip purchases, straining the economics of projects that can take years to generate revenue.
Hock Tan said the industry has faced supply bottlenecks multiple times over the past two years, but expects some of those constraints to ease as production capacity expands.
“Over the past two years, we have continued to experience a series of bottlenecks that we have since overcome,” he said. “What’s low on memory today may not be so low a year from now.”
He suggested that the wafer shortage could ease by 2028 or 2029, while power availability could also improve as new infrastructure comes online.
Despite funding concerns, both executives remained bullish on near-term demand for AI computing infrastructure.
“The demand for computing infrastructure exceeds the supply,” Hock Tan said, adding that the imbalance could persist until 2029 and potentially 2030.
Intel’s Tan similarly said the industry is unlikely to experience a significant slowdown in the next two to three years, citing the growing adoption of AI applications and demand for computing power.
But sustaining that growth over the next few years will depend on how quickly companies adopt AI and whether the technology delivers meaningful economic benefits, executives said.
Broadcom’s Mr. Tan warned that demand for computing infrastructure could slow if the adoption of advanced AI models fails to meet expectations, or if improvements in their capabilities plateau.
Meanwhile, Lip-Bu Tan emphasized that companies will increasingly need to demonstrate tangible benefits from AI investments through improved efficiency and new business models.
