Beyond the Obvious: Finding Hidden Opportunities
Major investment trends don’t always benefit the companies making the headlines. Sometimes the more interesting opportunities can be found further down the supply chain, in businesses providing the equipment, infrastructure, and services needed to support that growth. Generac’s recent deal to supply backup generators to Amazon’s data centres is a good example of how AI can create opportunities well beyond the technology companies at its centre.
Tag: msft
The AI Revolution: Understanding the Technology Behind the Investment Boom
If you’ve been following the stock market over the past couple of years, you’ve probably noticed that artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the hottest topics in investing.
Nearly every earnings call now mentions AI. Technology companies such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Alphabet (the parent of Google) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) are spending hundreds of billions of dollars building AI infrastructure, while businesses across almost every industry are looking for ways to incorporate AI into their products and services. Yet despite all the attention, many people still aren’t sure what AI actually is or why it has become so important.
That investment involves far more than the AI software most of us interact with. It spans chips, memory, networking equipment, data centres, electricity, cloud computing, and the software and applications that turn AI into something businesses and consumers can use.
Before we can understand why companies are investing so heavily in AI, it helps to first understand what AI is – and what it isn’t.
Weekly Update for the week ending September 4, 2026
The AI Revolution: Understanding the Technology Behind the Investment Boom
AI is far more than Nvidia and a handful of high-profile technology companies. From chips, memory, and networking to data centres, power, cloud computing, software, and cybersecurity, AI depends on an enormous ecosystem of businesses. In the final part of The AI Revolution, we look at how investors can participate in that ecosystem – and why finding the right investment may be about more than simply finding the next big AI company.
Monthly Portfolio Update July 2026
July was a month of shifting investor preferences, with the major indexes moving in noticeably different directions. The Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index (TSX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), with their greater exposure to traditional companies, extended their monthly winning streaks. Meanwhile, the more growth-oriented S&P 500 Index (S&P) and Nasdaq Composite Index (Nasdaq) extended their monthly losing streaks. Just as the markets had a mixed month, so did my three portfolios. And like the major indexes, the portfolios showed how different sector exposure can produce very different results, particularly when technology stocks fall out of favour.
Weekly Update for the week ending August 28, 2026
The AI Revolution: Understanding the Technology Behind the Investment Boom
Why are companies willing to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI? The answer comes down to competition. From Google’s AI-powered Search to Walmart’s use of AI to improve productivity and the customer experience, businesses are looking for ways to reduce costs, increase revenue, and gain an advantage over their rivals. In Part 6 of The AI Revolution, we explore why the fear of falling behind may be just as powerful a force behind today’s AI spending as the potential rewards.
Weekly Update for the week ending August 7, 2026
The AI Revolution: Understanding the Technology Behind the Investment Boom
Artificial intelligence (AI) may seem like software running in the cloud, but behind every AI-generated response is a vast physical infrastructure. From Nvidia’s powerful AI chips to advanced memory, high-speed networking, massive data centres, and enormous amounts of electricity, today’s AI systems depend on some of the most sophisticated technology ever built.
In Part 3 of The AI Revolution: Understanding the Technology Behind the Investment Boom, we explore the infrastructure that makes AI possible and explain why companies across multiple industries—not just technology firms—are benefiting from the AI revolution.