David Cann

I have, and the numbers are hard to take in.

The company that designs the chip, NVIDIA, is worth around $5 trillion.

The most valuable company on the planet.

The factory that builds it, TSMC, around $2.25 trillion.

And the one company that makes the machine that factory can't run without, ASML, around $700 billion.

Add them up, and just these three companies are worth getting on for $8 trillion.

That's nearly double the entire economy of Japan, the fourth largest on Earth.

But here's the part that stays with me.

Of those three, the one that's hardest to replace, ASML, the only firm on Earth that makes the machine is worth the least.

The market doesn't pay for how essential you are.

It pays for how visible you are.

So there are three critical bits of the chain.

The designer, the builder and the machine.

NVIDIA, TSMC and ASML.

And they're getting on for $8 trillion between them.

NVIDIA earning $0.85 in every dollar spent.

Everyone racing to build AI.

And lots of businesses are using it to try and speed things up.

But some of them are spending faster than they can afford.

Uber recently admitted it's burned through its entire annual AI budget in four months.