AI enthusiasm now touches almost every part of investing from super funds to resource stocks as traders scramble to capture the perceived upside. Large superannuation funds outperformed smaller rivals over the past year largely because they held bigger positions in companies tied to the AI surge.
Mining shares also stopped the local sharemarket from slipping backwards, helped by strong demand for copper. That metal sits at the heart of the physical infrastructure behind AI data centres and high-powered computing.
Momentum around AI is not just about software companies or chip designers. It extends into old-economy sectors that supply the hardware, power and materials needed to build massive server farms.
Copper, already essential for wiring and electrification, now benefits from expectations of an AI-driven build-out of data centres worldwide. Investors effectively treat copper-linked miners as a leveraged way to express conviction in long-term AI growth.
This crossover of tech optimism into commodities adds another layer of complexity to portfolio construction.
Underneath the frenzy sits a simple bet, AI will reshape how businesses operate and how people live, and markets are racing to price that in. Traditional safe havens and defensive plays are less appealing when compared with the promise of outsized gains from AI leaders and their supply chains.
Portfolio diversification is at risk if so many assets depend on the same growth narrative. The tension between AI-fuelled optimism and the risk of an overheated bubble now hangs over almost every asset allocation decision.
