It’s a lofty goal, but companies reporting second-quarter profits in recent weeks have emphasized artificial intelligence even more than they did in the previous quarter.
Companies in the S&P 500 (.SPX) who led the topic of AI on quarterly conference calls with analysts earlier this year have exceeded themselves in their most recent quarterly calls.
Following Intel’s (INTC.O) report late on Thursday, executives and analysts on the company’s call cited AI 58 times, up from 15 references in April.
Intel has so far lost out on the growth in AI computing components, with revenues in its data center and AI businesses falling 15% in the second quarter. Intel is now racing to catch up to Nvidia (NVDA.O) and other competitors whose CPUs support the technology. Intel’s stock rose 6.6% on Friday following its report, thanks to optimism about a revival in poor demand for personal computers.
Alphabet (GOOGL.O) analyst call participants cited AI 62 times on Tuesday, up from 52 times three months earlier. AI was cited 58 times on Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) earnings call the same day, up from 35 times on the prior call.
The current increase in corporations discussing their AI intentions mirrors Wall Street’s recent overwhelming confidence about leveraging generative AI and related technologies to create new services and raise efficiency across a wide range of sectors. This has contributed to a 37% increase in the Nasdaq (.IXIC) and a 20% increase in the S&P 500 this year. According to a Reuters research, AI was cited at least once on conference calls with analysts by more than a third of S&P 500 businesses reporting their results this month, up from approximately a quarter of companies in the first quarter.
