goldman sachs CEO David Solomon told CNBC on Monday that capital demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure remains strong despite recent market turmoil as investors reassess the risks associated with large scale build-outs.
Solomon said his firm has been “very active” in AI capital markets transactions in recent weeks and expects this to continue.
“Demand to build AI infrastructure and invest in technology related to the growth of AI remains very strong,” Solomon told CNBC’s Leslie Picker.
Changes in the political environment are “one of the drivers of readjustments and ups and downs, and we’re seeing some of that,” Solomon said. “But I still believe deeply in the long-term trajectory of the power of AI in our nation’s economy to improve productivity.”
AI stocks, including chipmakers and neo-cloud providers, have fallen in recent weeks as investors reassess whether the hundreds of billions of dollars being poured into AI infrastructure will generate enough returns.
The stock market decline that began before the U.S. midterm elections intensified after Democrats won a landslide victory on Tuesday, raising concerns that political opposition could slow the industry’s expansion.
This change in sentiment comes at a critical time for AI modeling institute Anthropic. Anthropic is preparing for an IPO that could be one of the biggest tests yet for public market demand for AI companies. Goldman is one of the banks leading the IPO process.
“If this IPO moves forward, we’ll obviously see how everything goes,” Solomon said, declining to comment in detail about the IPO. “I would say the market environment remains quite constructive.”
Mr. Solomon also pushed back against political resistance to building data centers, arguing that infrastructure is essential to the U.S. economy and can be built responsibly.
“We absolutely don’t want this infrastructure to leave the United States. Of course it will because there is a demand for computing in the United States,” Solomon said.
