Is the Giant OpenAI-AMD Deal Another Sign of an AI Bubble? (www.forbes.com)

OpenAI’s multibillion-dollar deal with AMD—which sent AMD shares up about 30%—and simultaneous chip collaborations like Nvidia and Intel’s plan to build systems combining Intel CPUs with Nvidia GPUs have intensified a two-speed economy: a booming AI sector and a more cautious broader market. These megadeals and record tech valuations fuel excitement, but they also spotlight how much investor momentum is concentrated on hardware and platform bets even as clear, sustainable business models remain scarce. Signs of froth are visible in high-profile flops and splashy startups: examples include Friend, an ad-heavy wearable that raised roughly $7 million but shipped a poorly reviewed product. On the big-player side, OpenAI’s revenue mix—subscriptions, enterprise contracts and API licensing—may struggle to cover its roughly $60 billion of funding and multimillion-dollar annual burn without continued growth or new monetization paths. A sharp market correction could trigger wider economic pain, slow U.S. AI momentum, and cede ground to global competitors like China. Still, as with the dot-com era, a bust wouldn’t erase the technology; it would likely leave a leaner industry where generative AI becomes embedded infrastructure rather than headline-grabbing startups.