BlockBeats News, July 20th - According to the research firm Exponential View, the revenue of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has reached a crucial inflection point. This indicates that the business model of technology companies investing hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in recent years is receiving initial validation.

The report data shows that the AI-related sales revenue of global hyperscale cloud providers and emerging cloud providers has reached approximately $25 billion, exceeding for the second consecutive quarter the estimated depreciation cost corresponding to AI data center and chip investments, which is about $21 billion. This milestone signifies that the revenue generated by the AI industry has begun to cover the cost pressure from infrastructure capital investment. The AI economy is transitioning from a phase of expansion relying solely on capital expenditure to a phase of revenue validation.

Exponential View stated that current AI revenue mainly comes from AI cloud services, GPU computing power rental, large-scale model APIs, enterprise AI software, and generative AI applications. As enterprise customers continue to increase AI spending, the commercialization pace of AI is accelerating.

However, the report also points out that the AI industry is still far from a high-profit stage. Due to the high costs of GPUs, data centers, power, and model development, the industry's profit margin remains limited. The current revenue is more about validating the sustainability of infrastructure investment rather than achieving large-scale profitability.

The core competition in the next stage of the AI industry will shift from "whether there is real demand" to "which companies can achieve scalable profitability in intense competition." With the improvement of model capabilities and cost reduction, AI service prices may further decrease, requiring enterprises to enhance profit margins through more efficient use cases and business models.