The writer is a managing director at Panmure Liberum
In December 1996, Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan characterised the boom in technology, media and telecom stocks as showing signs of “irrational exuberance”. Almost 30 years later, we can say the same about the AI boom.
But while there are similarities between the current tech boom and the one a generation ago, there is an important difference. One aspect of today’s boom is already much larger than the TMT bubble ever was. In 2025, US businesses invested almost $1.5tn in IT equipment and software. At the peak of the TMT bubble, it was $466bn or $829bn when adjusted for inflation.