Broadcom CEO warns AI financing could constrain growth

Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan said at a Singapore conference on October 12 that many investors in artificial intelligence do not understand what they are buying, likening their behavior to gambling. He also warned that access to financing could become a major constraint on the industry’s expansion as supply-chain pressures ease. Tan’s comments came as Broadcom forecasts rapid growth in its AI semiconductor business. The company’s guidance calls for revenue of $58 billion in fiscal 2026, $115 billion in fiscal 2027 and $230 billion in fiscal 2028. The outlook underscores a tension in Tan’s assessment: he questioned investor expectations and customers’ ability to earn returns while anticipating continued demand for Broadcom’s chips. Tan cited OpenAI’s roughly $50 billion in annualized revenue as of September as evidence of demand, but said the figure did not establish long-term profitability because of the costs of training AI models. He argued that businesses using AI need to find applications that generate meaningful returns, rather than spending on experimentation without clear benefits.