U.S. stock futures are edging higher as investors monitor tensions in the Middle East and the potential for a longer-term ceasefire agreement. At the same time, the artificial intelligence trade is evolving, with growing focus on real-world infrastructure needed to support it.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Hans Albrecht, equity fund manager at Option Pit, who said AI is driving demand for physical assets and creating a more selective environment for investors.
Key Takeaways
- Artificial intelligence is driving demand for physical infrastructure including data centres, servers, fibre and raw materials, creating new investment opportunities.
- AI may prove deflationary over time by reducing labour needs, though it could disrupt employment as adoption accelerates.
- Software faces increasing disruption as AI lowers barriers to entry, raising uncertainty for established companies.
- Supply constraints in computing capacity and materials are emerging as key bottlenecks in the AI buildout.
- A more selective investing environment is developing, with winners tied to infrastructure and losers exposed to disruption.
Read the full transcript below:
ANDREW: U.S. stock futures gaining ground. That’s after the Nasdaq yesterday snapped a 13-session winning streak. There are, of course, hopes that the Americans and the Iranians will reach a longer-term deal to end the hostilities before the ceasefire comes to an end. Let’s get more from Hans Albrecht, equity fund manager at Option Pit. Hans, great to see you, and thanks very much for joining us.
HANS: Good morning, Andy. Thanks for having me.
ANDREW: What’s your main thought on markets right now? Are you changing your portfolio with the prospect of peace in the Persian Gulf?
HANS: Well, I think it’s been sort of more of the same right now, where markets seem to be able to overlook just about anything. We’ve seen that over the last few years. And I think part of it is that AI is just a very powerful narrative. It’s changing things very quickly, and it plays into a number of things that are really working.
We’ve seen markets do well with higher oil prices. There is this notion that we’re going to have a little bit of sticky inflation. That could mean higher rates for longer. But ultimately, I believe rates are going to come down. I think AI is quite deflationary in the long run.
In the short run, we’re going to be building out the world. We’re going to be “retiling” the world, as I say it. That plays into Canada with commodities, and it plays into a lot of other areas, infrastructure and tech specifically as well. So I’m quite optimistic right now.
ANDREW: So you say that AI will be deflationary, so companies will be able to cut workers, for example, and bring down their labour costs?
HANS: Yes, unfortunately, that is going to be a byproduct of AI. It’s really unlike any kind of revolution we’ve ever seen, where you can create growth and progress, but you can do that without having to hire people.
We’ve never quite seen anything like that. In the old days, you wanted to create something, you built a factory, you hired people. It benefited society in a broad way. This is going to be challenging in some ways, and it’s happening very quickly.
It remains to be seen how quickly employment can handle this transition. People are loving these products, and it’s really early innings. Not that many people are using AI to its full capability, and certainly on the enterprise side, we’re very early. So I am worried on that side a little bit, and we’ll have to see how that plays out.
ANDREW: You note that software, via AI, looks like the power is moving towards infinity. Obviously nothing goes on forever, but the exponential increase in software capability is running up against a roadblock, the physical difficulty of building these data centres.
HANS: Yeah, and software is a fascinating area. That is really ground zero for the disruption we’re talking about. If you think of software as a service, 20 years of that being a fantastic business, you create something and charge many people for that one product, that recurring revenue model.
Now you’ve brought in tools so that almost anybody can create software. That doesn’t mean we’re going to replace Salesforce tomorrow, but you have to start looking down the line. As I call it, it’s an age of ultimate disruption.
If you look three to five years out, you really have to look at companies like Adobe and Salesforce and ask how they’re going to be doing. We don’t really know, and that’s what markets don’t like. They don’t like uncertainty.
To your point, there is insatiable demand for compute. We are seeing some strain with some of the models as well. That is the physical aspect you’re alluding to. AI doesn’t just exist in the cloud. It is physical. It is data centres, copper, glass, cement — all of the materials that go into this buildout of what I call “retiling the world.”
It’s like we’ve invented a new kind of electricity, and now everybody needs it. We are going to continue to run into bottlenecks because we have incredible demand going in one direction, but physical scarcity on the other side. That is challenging, but it’s also why I like infrastructure as an investment theme.
ANDREW: You referred there to “choking” and said Anthropic software had a glitch. What do you mean by that?
HANS: I think they’re throttling back some of the capabilities.
ANDREW: Oh, I see.
HANS: Exactly. Demand is so high and only going in one direction. They have to be careful. We’ve already seen hyperscalers say they don’t have enough capacity.
People say they’re overspending, but it’s quite possible they aren’t. We don’t know exactly where the return on investment will come from. But this isn’t like the late 1990s where infrastructure was built and not used for years. Everything being built now is being used immediately, and there isn’t enough of it.
ANDREW: One stock we don’t maybe talk about enough is Dell. They have built a big franchise in servers. You think that’s a stock investors should consider?
HANS: This is one of my favourite stories this year. There is going to be a clamouring as people realize the tools available to them and want to upgrade. I think there’s going to be a big physical upgrade cycle.
We’ve seen memory chips in short supply, affecting phone makers and others. Companies are trying to secure supply, almost like during COVID, stockpiling components.
Dell is a big beneficiary of that upgrade cycle. Enterprises will want more servers, more storage, more networking — that enterprise compute they specialize in. They offer a full ecosystem.
There’s a sense of urgency among companies asking what their competitors are doing. Dell can provide everything in one package. I think they’re going to sell servers and services very strongly over the next few years.
There are other names as well, like Apple and Hewlett Packard, that tie into that physical upgrade theme.
ANDREW: Hans, thanks very much indeed. Hans Albrecht, equity fund manager at Option Pit.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the April 21, 2026 interview with Hans Albrecht are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
