Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, and Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, testify during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing titled “Winning the AI Race: Strengthening U.S. Capabilities in Computing and Innovation,” in Hart building on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
There’s a bubble forming in the artificial intelligence industry, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
“Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes. Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes,” Altman said, according to a report by The Verge.
Altman’s AI company is currently in talks to sell about $6 billion in stock that would value OpenAI at around $500 billion, CNBC confirmed Friday.
In another context, Altman warned that the U.S. may be underestimating the progress that China is making in AI.
Given the above premises, should investors be more cautious about OpenAI? Altman was not posed this question, but one wonders whether his opinion would also be “yes.”
Outside pure-play AI companies, the money is, likewise, still flowing. Intel is receiving a $2 billion injection of cash from Japan’s SoftBank.
It’s a much-needed boost to the beleaguered U.S. chipmaker. Intel has fallen behind foreign rivals such as TSMC and Samsung in manufacturing semiconductors that serve as the brains for AI models.
But going by Altman’s views, the investment in Intel might not be a good bet by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son.
Not everyone agrees with Altman, of course. Ray Wang, research director for semiconductors, supply chain and emerging technology at Futurum Group, pointed out that the AI industry is not heterogeneous. There are market leaders, and then there are companies that are still developing.
In the real world, bubbles delight because they reflect their surroundings in a play of light. But the bubble Altman described could be one doesn’t show the face of its observer.
— CNBC’s Dylan Butts contributed to this report
What you need to know today
Trump suggests territory ‘exchanges’ between Ukraine and Russia. At a White House meeting between the U.S. president, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, Trump raised that possibility as part of the peace process.
Intel is getting a $2 billion investment from SoftBank. Both companies announced the development Monday, in which SoftBank will pay $23 per share for Intel’s common stock. Shares of Intel jumped more than 5% in extended trading.
The artificial intelligence market is in a bubble, says Sam Altman. Separately, the OpenAI CEO said he’s “worried about China,” and that the U.S. may be underestimating the latter’s progress in artificial intelligence.
U.S. stocks close mostly flat on Monday. The three major indexes made moves that were less than 0.1 percentage points in either direction as investors await key U.S. retail earnings. The Stoxx Europe 600 ticked up 0.08%.
[PRO] Opportunities in one area of the European market. Investors have been pivoting away from the U.S. as multiple European indexes outperform those on Wall Street. But one pocket of Europe still remains overlooked, according to analysts.
And finally…
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and China’s Great Wall Motor (GWM) CEO Mu Feng attend the opening of the GWM automobile factory on August 15, 2025, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
China News Service | China News Service | Getty Images
China’s EV industry is spending more on factories abroad than at home for the first time
For the first time since records going back to 2014, the Chinese electric car supply chain last year invested more outside the country than at home, according to a U.S.-based consulting firm Rhodium Group report published Monday.
Around 74% of announced overseas investment was in battery factories, the report said. But it noted investment in assembly plants abroad was also “growing rapidly.”
— Evelyn Cheng
