HSBC CEO Cautions Against Premature AI Investment Hype
HSBC Group Chief Executive Noel Quinn delivered a sobering assessment of corporate AI spending at the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit in Hong Kong. "The current infrastructure costs outweigh demonstrable productivity gains," Quinn stated, noting most businesses remain unwilling to pay premium prices for unproven AI solutions.
The warning comes as HSBC undergoes structural reforms, merging units and exiting non-core investment banking operations. This realignment follows similar strategic pivots by Morgan Stanley, which forecasts a sixfold expansion in global data center capacity to support AI infrastructure demands.