Author: Steffie Vanessia

The current frenzy surrounding AI resembles the historical California Gold Rush of 1849. During the rush it was often the vendors of essential tools and equipment, such as picks, shovels, and pans, who reaped the greatest rewards.

In this modern AI gold rush, data centers serve as the foundational tools necessary to harness the potential of AI technologies. While currently attention is focused on improving computing power, soon AI’s biggest constraint will be energy.

As AI rips through carbon intensive resources at a time when the world aims for net zero emissions by 2050 it becomes clear increases in the supply of renewable energy is essential. Yet, as more governments wake up to the reality that the rate renewable energy is being adopted at will not sustain both data centers and the national grid they will need to look to clean nuclear energy. This will allow governments to achieve decarbonization goals whilst ensuring reliable energy supply.

As such, investors would be wise to shift their focus from AI stocks themselves and start considering what is needed for this technology to come to fruition. This means growing demand for uranium and cooper, old-world commodities that are fundamental to the growth of the world’s clean energy capabilities in both the short and long term.

Scott Clements, Partner at Tribeca Capital, details this further in the Business Times article here, or you can also access the full article here.

For investors in the Asia Travel theme, what is heartening to note is that all the growth we are seeing represents just the tip of the iceberg, as only ~10% of Indian and Chinese citizens today own a passport. A combination of aging demography and a rising middle class in Asia will create a long term tailwind for experiential consumption.

As people get wealthier, they travel more than previous generations, as experiential consumption – holidays, medical tourism, events/concerts, and overseas study – gain share over goods accumulation. South Asia, in particular, is set to experience one of the largest increases in the population with wealth exceeding US$250,000. Covid interrupted this long term trend, however as airline capacity improved, travel has bounced back in most countries.

TAIF’s preferred way to invest in the secular growth of travel is via gateway airports, which are rare and possess valuable infrastructure assets with secure moats. Gateway airports are typically monopolistic, supported by both local and national governments, and generate returns on capital in excess of the cost of capital. Other plays on Travel theme such as airlines and hospitality are more sensitive to cyclical and demand-supply factors.

Read the full article here.

Susanta Mazumdar is the Portfolio Manager for the Tribeca Asia Infrastructure Strategy, which aims to earn superior, risk adjusted total returns through a mix of long-term capital appreciation and cash yield by investing in infrastructure companies across the Asia-Pacific universe using an index-unconstrained concentrated portfolio approach.