Blog

The AI bubble might pop, but Kong CEO Augusto “Aghi” Marietti told Business Insider he thinks it’ll be worth it.

AI companies will ultimately need the massive infrastructure projects they’re now spending so much on to build, he said.

“We’re in this new builders era where it’s a very singular moment where we are going to probably deploy more capex and more capital for enabling the AI era, and we need it,” Marietti told Business Insider.

Marietti said that energy-related issues are likely to be the primary bottleneck that stunts AI growth. Business Insider has documented how AI companies are so desperate for power for their large data centers that some are building self-contained supplies.

“We don’t have the energy we need to power all the GPUs in the following year,” he said.

Wall Street, however, is concerned about the sustainability of the capex spending craze by leading AI startups and other Big Tech companies, which is generating all kinds of bubble talk. A Business Insider analysis found that Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Google could spend an estimated $320 billion on capex, primarily for AI-related needs.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in August that he agrees AI could be in a bubble phase, echoing others who have warned that the spending cannot be sustained. Some economists say capex spending is so high right now that it is propping up the entire US economy.

Like Altman and others, Marietti compared the current spending to the building of railroads in the US in the 19th century. AI optimists argue that AI, like the railroads, will fundamentally transform the economy, and therefore, massive expenditures are needed to lay the groundwork for what’s to come.

“Some railroads were deployed ahead of time, but then all the railroads got used,” he said. “I think in AI, we’re just deploying ahead of time, and eventually something will blow up for a little bit, but we would eventually need the infrastructure that we’re deploying anyways.”

OpenAI President Greg Brockman has suggested that soon, every person will want their own GPU, a level of demand that would require massive expansion by his company and others.

Marietti said even “a down moment” won’t stop what’s coming down the tracks.

“After that, we’ll still use all the infrastructure that we build,” he said. “We still use the railroads that we deployed 150 years ago ahead of time.”

Deep Robotics, a Hangzhou-based start-up, is facing a severe talent shortage, hindering its efforts to commercialise the results of its research and development, according to its chief technology officer (CTO).

Li Chao, who is also a co-founder of the robot maker, said at the Bund Summit Financial Forum in Shanghai on Friday that highly skilled professionals were very much needed to help Deep Robotics take its business forward.

He added that top talent in the algorithm area was in strong demand, which the company needed to fine-tune its humanoid robots to better serve clients.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

“Robots are [penetrating] every manufacturing sector,” Li said. “As a company, we must seize the opportunity to make our products not only usable but also reliable in some industrial scenarios.”

Deep Robotics has launched the DR02 industrial-grade robot capable of operating reliably under all weather conditions. Photo: Handout alt=Deep Robotics has launched the DR02 industrial-grade robot capable of operating reliably under all weather conditions. Photo: Handout>

Deep Robotics was founded by CEO Zhu Qiuguo in 2017, when he was an associate professor at Zhejiang University.

The company is part of an unofficial group of start-ups dubbed the “Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou”, alongside artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek, video game studio Game Science, brain-machine interface innovator BrainCo, 3D interior design software developer Manycore and robot maker Unitree Robotics.

The six firms are widely seen as future stars, boosting Beijing’s ambitions of building China into a global technology powerhouse.

DeepSeek’s breakthroughs in large-language models sparked a trillion-dollar global rout in Nvidia and US tech stocks in January. The firm’s two powerful AI models were built at a fraction of the cost and computing power used by foreign firms. But their performance proved to be on par with OpenAI’s GPT model.

“The ‘Little Dragons’ are the envy of the country’s tech industries and, technically, they can attract all kinds of talent because of their reputation,” said Ding Haifeng, a consultant at financial advisory firm Integrity in Shanghai. “Top start-ups are eager to accelerate the transition of their research into commercial applications. Consequently, they are actively chasing more qualified professionals to strengthen their overall capabilities.”

CTO Li said Deep Robotics was also consolidating tie-ups with overseas partners in markets like Asia-Pacific and the Middle East to speed up its global expansion.

Earlier this month, the company launched the DR02, an industrial-grade robot capable of operating reliably under all weather conditions.

The 1.75-metre, 65kg humanoid robot features a waterproof body and frame. With wide thermal tolerance, it can endure rain, humidity and dust.

The humanoid robot sector is one of the areas that both the US and China are looking to gain an advantage in amid escalating trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

China has an edge in supply chain and scale as it manufactures high-quality, cost-efficient components, according to analysts.

The mainland was now home to nearly 100 humanoid robot makers, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the global ­market, according to Lu Hancheng, former director of the Shenzhen-based Gaogong Robot Industry Research Institute.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2025 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2025. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gold and silver prices increased on Saturday in both global and local markets after a six-day pause, driven by a rise in international bullion rates.

In the international bullion market, gold gained $18 per ounce, reaching $4,113. Following the global trend, the price of 24-carat gold in local markets rose by Rs1,800 per tola, bringing it to Rs433,662, while the price of 10 grams increased by Rs1,543 to Rs371,795.

Similarly, silver prices also rose, with the rate per tola increasing by Rs57 to Rs5,124, and 10 grams climbing by Rs49 to Rs4,393.

Read: SBP injects Rs4.25tr via OMOs

Traders attributed the increase to fluctuations in the global bullion market, which directly influenced domestic precious metal rates.

On Friday, gold prices continued their downward trajectory, mirroring trends in the international market, where the precious metal struggled to recover despite slightly softer-than-expected US inflation data that bolstered expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut next week.

According to the rates issued by the All-Pakistan Gems and Jewellers Sarafa Association, the price of gold per tola fell by Rs2,000, settling at Rs431,862, while the price of 10 grams declined by Rs1,714 to Rs370,252.

Read more: Gold prices drop sharply in Pakistan following global decline

The fall marks the first weekly loss in nearly 10 weeks as global investors adjusted their positions ahead of next week’s US monetary policy announcement.

On Thursday, the yellow metal had already recorded a sharp drop of Rs3,500 per tola, bringing local prices down from recent highs.

The consistent downward pressure reflects international market sentiment, where gold has been trading in a narrow band after heavy profit-taking earlier in the week.