Breaking Analysis with Dave Vellante

The podcast explores the transformative impact of AI showcased at the NVIDIA GTC event and Broadcom's Investor Day, highlighting the key players in the AI market. It discusses advancements in custom AI silicon, infrastructure, and the strategies of Broadcom and Nvidia in dominating their respective markets for the AI wave.

Heading into the second half of 2023, some investors felt that the semiconductor run up last summer was a harbinger for a broader tech rally. That thesis proved prescient and rewarded managers who took on risk at the time with leading firms in semiconductors, security and enterprise software. The question is, where do we go from here?In this Breaking Analysis we welcome back Ivana Delevska, the founder and chief investment officer at Spear Invest, Nasdaq SPRX. Some have compared SPRX to a miniature version of Cathie Wood’s ARKK fund. However SPRX is more sector agnostic where Delevska focuses more broadly on growth themes such as her current emphasis on cybersecurity, semiconductors, and enterprise software.

Exploring the cybersecurity sector's recent dynamics, focusing on CrowdStrike's impressive momentum and growth prospects. Comparisons with Palo Alto's challenges, Zscaler's negativity, and the platform vs. product strategy. Delving into CrowdStrike's diversification and $10B ARR goal, their innovative AI-driven cybersecurity solutions, and the importance of investing in robust security measures.

Broadcom is perhaps the most unique company in the technology business. It doesn’t simply chase markets that are on steep growth curves and can deliver short term ROI. Rather it goes after established markets with durable franchises. Broadcom focuses its R&D on serving customers in these markets with major engineering investments to achieve a dominant position in each of its target sectors. And sometimes, the company lucks out with this strategy and catches a wave accidentally by design.In this Breaking Analysis we extract key nuggets from our sit down at MWC this week with Charlie Kawwas, president of Broadcom’s Semiconductor Solutions Group, and we unpack the contrarian business technology model of Broadcom.

Comparing the AI boom to the dotcom bubble, discussing exuberance in stock market, speed of innovation, and accessibility of AI. Exploring parallels between past tech booms and current AI era, examining market dynamics and uncertainties. Reflecting on IPOs during dotcom bubble, transition to AI era, and risks in AI market.

The past twenty-four months have seen cloud spending face dual headwinds of macroeconomics and the ability to dial down resources as needed – i.e. cloud optimization. Nonetheless, the big four hyperscalers clocked in between $170 – $190B in IaaS and PaaS revenue last year depending on how you factor the leaked court documents suggesting Azure is much smaller than previously believed. Regardless, hyperscaler growth continued to outpace almost all markets, accelerating between 18-19% in revenue terms last year, despite their enormous size.As we progress into 2024, IT decision makers are cautiously optimistic about spending levels, especially for the second half. All hyperscalers report that cloud optimization is slowing although pockets of cloud cost cutting remain. While AI gets all the headlines, its contribution to revenue is still a small fraction of the overall spending pie. For example, we estimate that Microsoft’s AI services accounted for around $800M this past quarter. But the trajectory for AI services and the potential uplift looks promising for all four hyperscalers. We think collectively the generative AI uplift in cloud will surpass $10B this year.In this Breaking Analysis we update you on our latest hyperscale cloud spending and marketshare data. We’ll analyze the ETR survey data on cloud optimization, assess the Gen AI updraft for the big 3 US cloud players and look at some of the industry trend data on cloud spend by platform.

Exploring Intel's bold move to revitalize semiconductor manufacturing in the US amidst fierce competition from AMD, NVIDIA, and challenges posed by ARM and China Inc. Discussing Intel's strategy, technological advancements, and the evolving landscape of the global semiconductor supply chain. Delving into funding strategies, leadership challenges, and potential scenarios for Intel's market position in the future.

The hosts discuss predictions for enterprise technology in 2024, including IT spending, Gen AI, AI ROI, cybersecurity, and tech budget expectations. The influence of hyperscalers and sophisticated data companies in the AI journey is explored, as well as the emergence of a power law in 2024. The importance of data quality in AI, surprising decline in cloud migration, and rebound and innovation in the cloud are also discussed.

In this Breaking Analysis, theCUBE Research analyst Dave Vellante unpacks the Enterprise Technology Research January spending data and digs into those areas that are expected to show above average performance and those that are likely to lag.Follow theCUBE's live event coverage https://www.thecube.net/