Columbia Threadneedle: технологические акции продолжат ралли на фоне ускорения ИИ-расходов

Technology stocks will continue rallying for at least another two quarters — that's the forecast from analysts at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. The reason: AI infrastructure spending is accelerating and already exceeds growth rates from the previous two years.

Why the Rally Won't End

Columbia Threadneedle portfolio manager Tiffany Wade believes the market continues to underestimate the scale of the infrastructure cycle triggered by artificial intelligence. Companies — from the largest hyperscalers to industrial players — are ramping up capital expenditures on data centers, chips, and energy faster than was expected a year ago.

It's important to understand the context: the Nasdaq technology index has risen more than 50% over the past eighteen months, which has sparked concerns about overheating. Wade disagrees.

In her view, the current wave of investment is structural rather than speculative — it's backed by real multi-year contracts and committed budgets that will flow through financial results over several quarters.

A distinctive feature of the current cycle is that AI spending is no longer the exclusive domain of the largest tech giants. Traditional companies in finance, healthcare, and manufacturing are adopting it — and this promises to extend the investment wave.

What Drives the Spending

Several factors explain why the pace of investment exceeds analyst expectations:

• Building new data centers requires long-term orders for chips and equipment — the money is already committed and will flow into suppliers' revenues
• Hyperscalers (Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta) have publicly locked in record CapEx budgets for AI infrastructure for 2025–2026
• Energy infrastructure — transformers, cables, cooling systems — has become its own investment category with acute capacity shortages
• Second-tier companies — software providers, systems integrators, industrial players — are starting to catch up with leaders, creating a second wave of spending
• Government support programs in the United States, Europe, and Asia provide subsidies and regulatory incentives

Risks and Pressure Points

Growth is not without challenges. The main risk is a gap between the scale of AI investments and actual returns: if corporate clients fail to find applications for new tools with clear ROI, spending will slow faster than optimists expect.

Additional pressure comes from rising bond yields, which traditionally depress valuations for growth companies.

"AI infrastructure spending is accelerating beyond the pace of the last two years," —

Tiffany Wade, Columbia Threadneedle Investments.

Nevertheless, Wade bets on the rally continuing. Her argument: companies that missed the first wave of AI infrastructure spending are now forced to catch up under competitive pressure — and this itself sustains steady demand and ensures revenue predictability for makers of servers, chips, and enterprise software.

What This Means

The AI infrastructure cycle has shifted from the hype phase to real capital construction. For investors, this means: the growth momentum of the technology sector will persist at least until early 2027. Those waiting for a correction to enter a position should remember that waiting time itself has a cost.

*Meta has been designated an extremist organization and is banned in Russia.