Big Tech companies raced to dominate AI in 2025 as the booming technology continued to captivate Wall Street.Throughout the year AI received much criticism and speculation over its position in the market.Mainly, it raised the AI bubble question, and if it is about to burst.US chip maker Nvidia became the first company in the world to hit a record market value of $5 trillion.The chipmaker, along with six other big tech companies, now makes up nearly a third of the entire US stock market.The Magnificent 7 sto ...

Core Viewpoint - ARM Holdings, valued at $140 billion, is seen as a prime example of the AI valuation bubble, trading at over 200 times earnings despite only $4 billion in annual revenue and $808 million in GAAP operating profit for FY'25 [4][5] Financial Metrics - ARM's current valuation implies a need for extraordinary growth, requiring revenue to triple to approximately $12.5 billion and GAAP net margins to double to around 40% [12][15] - The company currently operates at 16% GAAP net margins for FY'25 and about 19% over the last 12 months [6] Business Model Challenges - ARM's business model is heavily reliant on R&D, consuming 52% of revenue, which is significantly higher than Nvidia's 9% [7] - Achieving the required margins would necessitate cutting stock-based compensation, risking talent loss and innovation [7] Market Growth Assumptions - The growth narrative for ARM is primarily dependent on the data center market, which is often misunderstood [8] - Most of ARM's data-center revenue comes from low-royalty agreements (3-5%), making it unlikely to achieve the necessary revenue growth without a shift to higher royalty products [9][10] Competitive Landscape - ARM faces competition from RISC-V, an open-source, royalty-free architecture that poses a long-term threat to ARM's pricing power [11] - Major companies like Google, Meta, and Qualcomm are investing in RISC-V, which could diminish the need for ARM's architecture licenses [11] Market Share Goals - ARM aims to capture 50% market share in the data center by 2026/2027, up from about 15% today, which is a significant challenge [15]