Binance founder Changpeng Zhao dropped his take on the AI gold rush during a live stream today: skip the models and applications, go for the shovels. He stated a clear preference for investing in data centers and power supply, calling them the bottleneck of the AI boom with more predictable, long-term demand.
The logic echoes the 19th-century California gold rush — the real winners were those selling shovels and denim, not the miners. CZ sees the same pattern in AI. As training and inference of large language models consume ever more compute power, data centers and electricity have become the scarcest resources. Several former Bitcoin mining firms, including IREN and Hut 8, are already pivoting their power assets to serve AI infrastructure, underscoring the trend.
Custom Chips Will Break NVIDIA's Grip
On the chip front, CZ acknowledged that NVIDIA currently dominates the market. But he predicted that as the industry matures, more customized AI computing solutions will emerge, intensifying hardware competition and opening new opportunities for investors. He also mentioned he is watching robotics and expects AI to accelerate progress in biotech.
Core Focus Remains Web3 at 70-80% Allocation
Despite his interest in AI hardware and infrastructure, CZ hasn't strayed from his roots. He noted that his investment arm, YZi Labs, will not dive heavily into biotech or other tangential fields for now. His core conviction still centers on crypto and blockchain. “We will allocate 70% to 80% of capital to Web3,” he said, with AI infrastructure taking only a small slice of the remaining exposure.
The statement serves as a reassurance for the crypto community. At a time when AI narratives are dominating capital flows, CZ's allocation strategy signals that his faith in blockchain's long-term potential remains intact. He believes Web3 and crypto assets are still the biggest value plays for the decade ahead.