Semiconductors risk a telecom-style bust if AI capex merely flatlines rather than falls. Telecom investment did not decline after 2001; it stopped growing for 25 years, and investors took a bath as stocks priced for growth stalled and margins compressed. Today's $1 trillion-plus of annual investment rests largely on startups' projections of about 10x growth, and xAI and Meta already found less demand than expected. GPUs must run while they hold value, so no analogy is perfect. x.com x.com x.com


