Damned if you spend, damned if you don’t

Middle East tensions are once again shaking global markets, sending oil prices and bond yields sharply higher just as investors were hoping for a calmer second half of the year. Technology stocks are attempting a rebound, but higher borrowing costs and persistent inflation risks continue to challenge valuations. Meanwhile, Big Tech faces a dilemma: keep investing aggressively in artificial intelligence to stay ahead of rapidly advancing Chinese competitors, or slow spending and risk losing its technological edge. As Alphabet prepares to update investors on its capital expenditure plans alongside its latest earnings, markets may care more about future AI spending than the quarterly numbers themselves. Is the AI investment boom still justified, or is it becoming too expensive to sustain?

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Ipek Ozkardeskaya has begun her financial career in 2010 in the structured products desk of the Swiss Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. She worked at HSBC Private Bank in Geneva in relation to high and ultra-high net worth clients. In 2012, she started as FX Strategist at Swissquote Bank. She worked as a Senior Market Analyst in London Capital Group in London and in Shanghai. She returned to Swissquote Bank as Senior Analyst in 2020, and launched her own website ipekScope.com in 2025.