Why Demand for Compute Is About to Explode | TCAF 253

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  July 31, 2026 at 09:00  |  1:25:47  |  The Compound News
Speakers
Josh Brown — CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management
Alex Kantrowitz — Founder of Big Technology

Summary

Alex Kantrowitz joins Josh Brown and Michael Batnick to discuss AI's rapid growth, soaring cloud demand, and the diverging strategies of tech giants. The conversation highlights winners like cloud hyperscalers, Snowflake and Reddit as AI infrastructure plays, Apple's emerging role as a consumer AI gatekeeper, and the potential for agentic AI to drive an even bigger compute boom. Meta's heavy capex is scrutinized but its massive user base could still enable AI success.

  • OpenAI and Anthropic revenues are surging, but competition and open-source models may compress AI model margins.
  • Cloud providers Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud are seeing reacceleration driven by AI workloads.
  • Snowflake is repositioning as AI infrastructure, enabling AI workflows directly on stored data.
  • Reddit's data licensing deals with AI firms offer a backdoor play on AI monetization.
  • Apple is poised to become the consumer AI distribution tollbooth via its App Store ecosystem.
  • Meta faces free cash flow decline from capex but could leverage 3 billion users for a winning AI consumer product.
  • The rise of agentic AI could dramatically increase compute demand, benefiting the semiconductor sector.
  • Apple's anticipated foldable phone may be a major hit and drive a strong upgrade cycle.
Ideas
Josh Brown CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management 33:44
Cloud hyperscalers benefit from AI spend.
The cloud hyperscalers are clear winners from AI spending. Microsoft Azure grew 43% YoY (highest since 2022), Google Cloud revenue growth was 82%, and Amazon AWS reported 36.7% YoY growth, far above expectations. AI workloads are driving reacceleration in cloud revenue at massive scale, and these companies are the beneficiaries of the AI buildout.
MSFT GOOG AMZN HIGH
Josh Brown CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management 58:24
Meta's massive user base wins AI.
Meta may be spending heavily on AI without clear short-term revenue, but it has a captive audience of over 3 billion users. This user base could be leveraged to win the consumer AI game, especially with an addictive ‘AI friend’ product. Meta is already the best user of AI for ad targeting and engagement, giving it a credible shot at AI success despite current market skepticism.
META MED
Josh Brown CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management 59:35
Snowflake is AI infrastructure, not software.
Snowflake is becoming an AI infrastructure play rather than just a software company. With 13,000 enterprise customers, its central data warehouse allows enterprises to run AI workflows directly on the data without moving it, avoiding fragmentation. The market is now treating it like AI infrastructure, driving the stock from a $70B to $100B market cap.
SNOW HIGH
Josh Brown CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management 61:39
Reddit monetizes data licensing for AI.
Reddit is a social media advertising play with a valuable data licensing business for AI training. It has multibillion-user interactions and deals with OpenAI and Google, with Anthropic likely to settle and become a customer. As AI models need high-quality human data, Reddit's data trove becomes a backdoor AI play.
RDDT HIGH
Josh Brown CEO, Ritholtz Wealth Management 74:55
Apple is consumer AI toll collector.
Apple is positioned to be the toll booth for consumer AI use. By virtue of the App Store, Apple can mandate interoperability with Agentic Siri, forcing app developers to integrate, making Apple the safest and dominant conduit for AI apps on mobile. Apple won’t need to spend on capex to win the consumer AI layer.
AAPL HIGH
Alex Kantrowitz Founder of Big Technology 83:19
Agentic AI drives massive chip demand.
Agentic AI use cases are starting to take off, and if they become widespread, they will consume far more compute than simple queries. Even basic agents like automated Zillow searches require continuous background computation. The resulting compute crunch will be much larger than anything seen so far, driving massive demand for semiconductors.
SMH MED
Up Next
38:43
Historic Surge, Is This the Start of a 'Reversal'? Conditions for 'Macro Stability' to Determine the Fate of the Stock Market in the Second Half | Hong Seonae, Min Jaegi KB Securities PRIME CLUB Team Leaders [Yeouido Insight]
3PRO TV (삼프로TV) · Jul 31
27:59
[#Emergency Interview] Bold Outlook... After Today's Stock Price Surge, the Korean Stock Market Will Flow Like This. | Eugene Investment & Securities Executive Director Heo Jae-hwan
815 Money Talk (815머니톡) · Jul 31
1:11:18
[July 31st Closing Market Review] Bad Volume, Finally Liquidated? The Aftermath of the Historic Surge is More Important! The Next Decisive Point is '7000p' | Hong Seonae, Lee Gwonhui, Kim Jangyeol [Closing Bell Live]
3PRO TV (삼프로TV) · Jul 31
54:16
Why Private Credit Got Entangled With Insurance | Odd Lots
Bloomberg Odd Lots · Jul 31
1:24:57
Leverage Wall Street Worried About, Wasn't It Korea? The Fall of Aschenbrenner Who 'Failed to Recognize the Situation' | Chesley Investment Advisory Executive Director Park Se-ik [Womaeshinbak / 26.07.31 Fri]
Chesley Investment Advisory (체슬리투자자문) · Jul 31

This The Compound News video, published July 31, 2026, features Josh Brown, Alex Kantrowitz discussing MSFT, GOOG, AMZN, META, SNOW, RDDT, AAPL, SMH. 6 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Josh Brown, Alex Kantrowitz  · Tickers: MSFT, GOOG, AMZN, META, SNOW, RDDT, AAPL, SMH