Ping An Fund Manager Zhai Sen: The AI industry has entered a stage of diversified application bloom, while also focusing on domestic substitution opportunities and new growth points in application terminals.

According to Securities Times, Zhai Sen, the manager of Ping An Technology Innovation Hybrid Fund, pointed out in a speech titled "New Trends and Development Space of Artificial Intelligence: 2026 AI Investment Outlook" that global AI capital expenditure is growing at an unprecedented pace, and the AI industry is entering the second stage of development from the development of computing power to a flourishing of applications. The layout of the artificial intelligence track is gradually shifting to the application end. Zhai Sen pointed out that the current AI infrastructure construction is far from reaching the stage where a bubble needs to be discussed. Historically, the capital expenditure of a productivity revolution will reach 3%-4% of the total GDP of the whole society, although AI capital expenditure in 2026 is expected to expand rapidly and reach a scale of $600 billion, it is still far lower than the peak period of infrastructure construction in the history of productivity revolution. This optimistic assessment is supported by the logic of sustained economic prosperity. Zhai Sen stated that the scale of AI infrastructure is expected to reach $3 trillion by 2030, and the compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2030 will reach 31%, making it the fastest-growing infrastructure cycle in history. Zhai Sen believes that the overall investment strategy in the field of AI in 2026 is to closely follow the main line of global capital expenditure, while also focusing on domestic substitution opportunities and new growth points at the application end.