In this episode of Monetary Matters, Jack Farley sits down with semiconductor analyst Ben Pouladian of BEP Research to unpack the complex hardware supply chain powering the AI revolution. Pouladian pushes back against the bear argument that the current boom is merely a dot-com bubble repeat, explaining why Nvidia's ability to generate "intelligence" differs vastly from Cisco's networking commodities. He reveals that the true bottleneck in AI deployment is no longer a GPU shortage, but rather a severe lack of energized land and the tradesmen needed to build physical data centers. The conversation also dives into Pouladian's "token dollar" thesis, exploring how the global race for maximum compute-per-watt has become a modern geopolitical space race between the U.S. and China. For investors, Pouladian breaks down his top stock picks, including his unwavering bullishness on Nvidia, Apple's vital role in consumer AI privacy, and Bloom Energy's unique solution to the data center power crunch. Whether you are an institutional investor or just curious about the future of tech, this deep dive offers a clear roadmap for navigating the massive capital expenditures driving the semiconductor super-cycle. Recorded July 8, 2026.

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Ben’s Pieces on BEP Research we discussed:

“The Token Dollar”: https://bepresearch.substack.com/p/the-token-dollar

“Bloom Energy Is Actually Getting Deployed”: https://bepresearch.substack.com/p/bloom-energy-is-actually-getting

Most recent piece, which addresses recent short reports on Bloom: https://substack.com/home/post/p-206941568

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