Assessing Monetization and Liquidity Risks Amid the Surge in AI Investment

ING AsiaPacific Head of Wholesale Banking Uday Sarin and ING Bank Korea Country Head Jung Hyeyeon said that the spread of the AI industry is rapidly increasing infrastructure investments such as data centers, power facilities, and cooling systems. They noted that while the scale of investment in AIrelated facilities is very large, the key ultimately lies in recouping the investment and generating profits. Head Sarin explained that over the past two and a half years, $2 trillion has been invested in building the AI ecosystem, and that companies need more than $4 trillion in revenue to generate meaningful profits. However, he assessed that current AI investment is different from the dotcom bubble in that it is based on actual demand. They also said that the Middle East war and rising energy prices are once again pushing the global interest rate environment toward tightening, and that among companies, demand for liquidity management and currency hedging is increasing. In Korea's case, the high exchange rate and the burden of import costs were cited as risks, but strong semiconductor exports could support the growth trend, they analyzed.