BlackRock’s Fink Says AI Faces Supply Crunch, Not Bubble, Calling It a Once-in-a-Century Opportunity

“Demand for AI Infrastructure Is Rising Faster Than Expected”

“The US Alone Will Need $10 Trillion in Capital Spending”

BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said artificial intelligence investment reflects a supply crunch rather than a bubble, calling it a once-in-a-century opportunity.

Fink made the remarks on May 5 at the Milken Global Conference 2026, an economic and financial forum held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.

“The AI bubble thesis is wrong. In fact, it’s the opposite,” Fink said. “Right now, the world is short of everything, including power, computing capacity and long-term memory.” He added that demand for AI infrastructure is rising much faster than programmers and designers had expected. Once countries begin exploring AI technology in earnest, he said, the result will be a vast opportunity accompanied by major geopolitical change.

Fink described the current AI infrastructure buildout as a massive investment opportunity that comes around once in a century. Just as railroads and highways reshaped the foundations of the economy in the past, AI factories and data centers are now redesigning the global economy, he said. The US alone will need $10 trillion in capital spending for that buildout.

He said governments, including the US, are accumulating deficits and do not have the capacity to shoulder such large-scale investment on their own. That makes the private sector’s role critical. Fink also said BlackRock plans to announce a partnership this week involving a large hyperscaler and a 1-gigawatt data center.

Fink also offered a blunt assessment of AI’s impact on the labor market. In the AI era, wage growth will never keep pace with AI’s growth potential or returns on capital, he said. That means it will be difficult to achieve economic success by relying solely on labor income.

As a remedy, he argued for participation in capital markets and the compounding effect it offers. With life expectancy rising, keeping money only in a bank account is one of the worst financial decisions a person can make over a lifetime, he said. Individuals should participate directly in the growth of capital markets and build asset value.

Looking ahead, Fink said the industrial landscape will be reshaped into a K-shaped economy. Across industries, one to three winners will increasingly dominate. A company’s ability to fund massive AI infrastructure spending will become the key factor separating survivors from laggards.

Park Shin-young, New York correspondent, Korea Economic Daily, nyusos@hankyung.com