Tether CEO: AI Industry Faces Multiple Capital Misallocation Risks, with Severe Misalignment Between Profitability and Investment Cycles

Odaily reported that Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, stated that large tech companies in the current AI industry are expanding their user base by subsidizing computing power. However, this strategy relies on infrastructure expansion driven by high capital expenditures (CAPEX), with related assets typically depreciating rapidly within 3 to 5 years.

Paolo Ardoino pointed out that this model is creating multiple structural mismatches, including: mismatch between token prices and real value, misalignment between profitability cycles and capital investment cycles, mismatch between capital costs and debt maturities, and the ongoing trend of open-source AI continuously eroding revenue space.

Paolo Ardoino believes that under these combined structural pressures, industry risks are accumulating, and he questioned "What could go wrong in such a structure."