Ben Thompson: the AI shortage nobody is pricing in is capital, not compute or power
Stratechery·medium signal
In the August 14, 2026 Stratechery weekly, Thompson argues the well-covered compute and power constraints are joined by an under-discussed capital constraint — "If AI is as valuable as it seems, then it should pay for itself, but that hasn't happened yet." He reads Nvidia's new funding mechanism and Google's equity raising as attempts to bridge that gap, while warning both expand bubble dynamics that could compress margins. The week also covers the EU's AI-labeling mandate and a New York-versus-Hollywood network-effects comparison.