All right, we do have a lot to talk about with Dan Ives. There is a lot to talk. Cerever Systems just reporting falling 8%, second quarter revenue disappoints. Coreweave surging after the AI spending frenzy spurred faster sales growth than anticipated, with sales expected to be 3.45 billion to 3.6 billion in the third quarter. We've got with us for the next half hour or so Dan Ives. He's partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives. It's the first time I've read that title for you, Dan, because you know for so long we knew you at Wedbush and we knew you as this what many people called a tech permable. I want to get to your outlook on not just this earnings season and what to expect from Nvidia and the so-called circular financing. But before we do that, because we haven't had a chance to sit down with you since this job changed, I want to just hear from you why you left Wedbush and what you're doing now at Yorkville Ives.
Yeah. I mean for me and look it was a great you know eight years at Wedbush but it was to create what I view as like a modern merchant bank you know really something where when I think about this fourth industrial revolution and for my you know called going in Wall Street since the late '90s it was seeing around corners and seeing the opportunity and I just felt like for me it was an evolution in my career for something that to build a bank and especially have great research that's focused on tech energy, you know, and really across industries. And I found great partners in Yorkville. And it to me it was the right place, right time to do something like this given my view of the AI revolution.
Well, I want to get to more on that and we're going to get to the AI revolution, but we spoke to you at Future Proof where you'll be there again this year since September of last year and I remember the conversation because it was not just about what you were doing at Wedbush, but it was about the ETF that you had launched. You were also chairman at the time of Worldcoin. This crypto project or Akco.
Oh, yeah. Akco. Thank you. Which is part of which was related to Worldcoin. So what is like what is the status of those projects now?
Yeah. So that so in terms of like I left Akco. And that like you know not there's been no change in terms of that. And that's something where for me look it was sort of like simplifying you know I think some of my you know other activities and really to me it was really like doubling down to some extent on what people know me as in terms of when it comes to tech when it comes to you know great research and I think you know I think around the world so many more investors have such a focus in tech and it's something where to try to be some guiding light you know relative to a lot of the confusion that you see in the market.
What can you do now that you couldn't do before?
I mean there's you know we're look we're still awaiting our research license. But for now this is like when it's all sort of built it will be something that it will be exactly the same Dan Ives research and you know what we've done for investors over the decades and that's really why we built it. But also it's for me it's finding the right people that want to do things and when it comes to innovation when it comes to building whether it's on the research side or you know across the industry and I just think right now like we're going through an innovation boom and in my career it's really been an evolution for me there was a natural next step and I've been super excited about the feedback that we've gotten and just you know from you know many around the world.
We have seen a lot of innovation cycles and you have been along for that ride and I'm just curious how you continue to put this particular cycle in its place and in its spot and how much do we really know about the ultimate impact?
I mean as someone like myself that spends so much time in Asia, so much time talking to CEOs, CIOs that's done this since the late 90s. This is a true fourth industrial revolution. And you look, we've talked about it with you guys, you know, for many years. And that's why I think what a lot of times like the skeptics or the bears, you know, they're bearish from the 15th floor of their New York City office building or wherever it may be, but they're not in fabs in Taiwan. They're not seeing the demand. And the reality is like for the first time in 30 years, the US is ahead of China when it comes to tech. And I think that's extremely important relative to where we are. And I think what you've seen with earnings, whether it's on the neoclouds, the hyperscalers, it's just it is crystal clear that the monetization phase is now starting to take over.
But do we have to be worried about China? Because they certainly have the government now saying, 'Okay, they are prioritizing this and with money with efforts with, you know, how it works. We've seen it with cars. We've seen it with EV. We've seen it in so many different industries and they want to make sure they have a place at the table with this.' So where how do you how far are they along? What do we really know about their expertise?
Yeah. So I think as someone that myself that spend so much time in the region, it's one like counting them out is the wrong bet because the reality is is that not just from a government perspective when it comes to energy, you know, just how ahead they've been when it comes to nuclear energy, when it comes to robotics. And it's one where I think part of why Jensen is so focused on selling into China and I think a lot of the chip companies because if you do not sell into China it just makes them that much more powerful. It narrows the gap and also when it comes to like the political whether it's grandstanding whatever you want to call it in terms of like what's happened here on the data centers and data centers are the hearts and lungs of the AI revolution. So if you have like moratoriums and you shut down data centers, the winner in that becomes China relative to what could happen here in the US. So I actually think like the biggest sort of risk when you think about what could happen to AI revolution. It's not capex. It's not use cases. The biggest risk is just the political piece gets in the way in terms of the data center buildouts because I think that's something where any every data center that gets voted down China smiles.
I think we have time for this question. It's a really good one. It's from Brendan in Maryland. He has a question for you. He says, 'You've likened the AI revolution to building out the Vegas strip in the '50s. Can you elaborate on this analogy? What role is Microsoft playing here? Are the hyperscalers like the big casinos? And famously, does the house always win?'
Great, great, great, great question. Look, and the reason I talk about like Vegas 1955 because if someone told you in 1955 what eventually the sphere was going to be and what Vegas was, but then all of a sudden in 1956 there was an issue with the building. You're like, ah, it's the strip thing's not going to happen. It's not going to work. It just that's big tech companies like that's their view right like go back to if you like Microsoft is a good example like two months ago right like New York City cab drivers bearish on Microsoft and now look today right there's ticker tape parades for it just speaks like because you have like Nadella is a north star and he's able to see around corners and understand that on the Vegas strip there's only one strip if you don't have a place on that strip are you staying at that hotel 2 miles from Vegas eventually you're in Santa Fe or whatever. I mean, the point is I'm just trying to explain like these companies know there's one strip and that's why when it's like, well, what about capex? If let's say like stocks down, does that mean that they start to, you know, they like slow down their build? Because they know that if they slow it down, they won't have a place in the strip. And then what happens when you look out a few years from now and you're three miles off the strip?
I want to get to the second part of Brendan's question. What a great question in two parts. bloomberg.com askradio. That's how Brendan was able to ask the question. bloomberg.com askradio. This is for terminal subscribers. Bloomberg terminal subscribers and those who also are subscribers to bloomberg.com. So he went on Dan to say even more some question whether this AI boom is due to chip sellers logging revenues faster than reporting their expenses. Can you speak to that?
Yeah. So I view it as right now demand to supply for chips. 13, 14 to 1 demand to supply. The one thing is that look I view the whole thing as kind of like a Jenga puzzle however you want to think about it. You put it together whether it's Cisco, Neocloud, Hyperscalers, what's happened, Palantir on this. The reality is is that they hold the cards, the chip players, because you don't have many of them, and you're not going to create new ones. And that's similar what you see in Korea and the Kasu with the memory players. And I just think it's one where when some try to kind of poke holes in some of these stocks and it's always been our view that like investors are way underestimating the scale and scope of the AI revolution.
But wouldn't you say, and certainly we've heard this around this table of the semiconductor makers who are very sensitive to the cycles of the booms and busts that they are going to be very careful also in controlling supply in the market. So yes, they're going to invest and they're going to ramp up, but they're not going to do it so much that all of a sudden the price drops. So there's got to be a I don't know what the factor is that in that excess demand 13, 14 times whatever you said for chips. How much of that though is the semiconductor companies being very smart in kind of managing the situation and keeping those margins healthy?
