Broadcom's CEO Chen Fuyang and Intel's CEO Chen Liwu jointly warned that capital shortages and ROI uncertainties are replacing chip shortages as the biggest bottleneck to expansion. Chen Fuyang bluntly stated that some AI investors "have no idea what they're investing in," behaving like gamblers making bets; Musk later responded on the X platform, "Don't cry if you're in a casino." Both expect that AI demand will not slow down in the short term, but the gap between supply and demand for computing power may continue until 2030.

On the same day, the heads of two chip giants issued a warning in Singapore that the biggest bottleneck in the AI industry has shifted from being unable to produce chips to not being able to obtain funding.

On October 12th, Broadcom's CEO Chen Fuyang ( Hock Tan ) and Intel's CEO Chen Liwu ( Lip - Bu Tan ) jointly attended the Singapore Star Alliance Bank's ( DBS ) Asia Future Frontier Conference in Singapore.

Chen Fuyang stated, "I believe the biggest constraint is capital." He pointed out that in the past two years, the AI industry has successively faced supply bottlenecks—lack of memory, insufficient wafers, and tight power supplies—but these have all been overcome one by one. However, the nature of the capital issue is different. He warned that as the construction of AI infrastructure continues to expand, the difficulty of financing may exceed that of any hardware shortage.

Chen Liwu immediately agreed, listing the increase in capital costs and the uncertainty of ROI as the most core challenges facing the AI industry at present.

If there are any challenges ahead, they are capital and the cost of capital; on the other hand, in the long run, people need to see ROI.

The statements of the two individuals quickly triggered a reaction in the market. Broadcom's stock price fell by 1.88% on that day, while Intel's stock price dropped by 3.20%.

Elon Musk: "Don't cry in a casino"

Another statement by Broadcom’s CEO Chen Fuyang at the meeting was even more incisive.

According to the latest report from Bloomberg, he stated, "Many investors have no idea what they are actually investing in." He compared the behavior of some AI investors to betting in a casino.

These words quickly took root on social media. After Musk reposted related posts on the X platform, he only left five words in response:

“Don’t cry in the casino.” (“ No crying in the casino .”)

Demand for computing power remains strong, but the supply-demand gap will continue until 2030.

Despite the warnings, both CEO remain optimistic about recent prospects.

Chen Fuyang stated, "The demand for computing power infrastructure exceeds what we are able to supply." He predicts that this imbalance between supply and demand will continue until 2029, and may even extend into 2030.

Chen Liwu stated that in the next two to three years, there is unlikely to be a significant slowdown in the AI industry. The continuous popularization of AI applications and the growing demand for computing power are the main drivers of support.

But he also drew a red line: Longer-term growth will depend on whether companies can truly implement AI applications, achieve efficiency improvements, and generate quantifiable economic benefits.

Under the competitive pressure of Chinese models, the pressure on ROI has further intensified.

Chen Liwu also mentioned another variable: competition from China.

He stated that the token cost of China's cutting-edge AI model is lower, and its adoption speed is “very fast.” Models such as DeepSeek, Kimi, and GLM are already “good enough” to meet the needs of some use cases.

This directly challenges the industry assumption that 'the most expensive systems will inevitably dominate the market,' and also puts investors who have bet on high-end computing infrastructure under greater ROI pressure.

But Chen Liwu said, "I firmly believe that open source is the best way to drive efficiency, and the market will ultimately determine which models are most suitable for different use cases."

Broadcom and Intel are still raising substantial funds

While two CEO issued warnings, both companies were also actively seeking capital on their own.

According to previous reports, Broadcom is seeking to raise over $50 billion from investors such as Apollo Global Management and Blackstone to customize AI chips for OpenAI, in order to support the deployment of several gigawatts of computing power. The preliminary agreement is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Intel completed a larger-scale public offering in August of this year, issuing 210.5 million shares at a price of $95 per share, raising approximately $20 billion, which is higher than the initial plan of $15 billion.

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