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@Derf - Have you considered placing a wager on rare earth at DraftKings? (From Google's AI):
"DraftKings has introduced 'DraftKings Predictions,' a specialized platform allowing users to trade contracts on financial, entertainment, and sports events in 38 states, as reported in late 2025. This app functions like a prediction market, enabling users to take positions on financial outcomes rather than traditional stock market investing. The app allows users to trade yes/no contracts on real-world financial and sports outcomes. These events contracts are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not as traditional gambling, allowing for broader availability in states without legalized sports betting."
No word yet on how soon one might transfer their retirement accounts to DraftKings. Rest assured they're working on it.
Does anyone own or think of taking a piece of Rare Earth?
Nope. I bought into Neo Performance Materials several months ago and it's done quite well. It's a Canadian company and mineral miner with some nifty pipelines and pays a dividend, plus they just opened a huge facility in Estonia. (it's part of my 'buy ex-US' strategy)
I don't want to follow the herd trying to make money off of Donnie's impulses....
If I were going to add to "real assets", I would do so with a broad-based approach.
While the big run up in markets of all kinds, should give anyone pause, it is always important to keep an open mind. In that regard, I have heard what is referred to as the "AI bubble", as actually being a huge infrastructure investment. This is an attractive argument. Chips are infrastructure, I would say. Along with the energy build out.
As to when it pays off, or if it is already priced in, I have no idea. Or where we sit right now, in terms of rare earth minerals, I have no idea.
Interesting take. Yes, I suppose that Huang can be considered biased. I am not convinced either way. Though, as devil's advocate, I might argue that no matter the "lifespan of chips", they are a huge part of infrastructure. Telecommunications equipment is also huge part of infrastructure and the hardware evolves at a rapid pace too. From servers, to storage to optical networking, the hardware becomes obsolete rapidly. It all contains chips. Internet, AI, even automobiles have this truncated lifespan on the road to obsolescence.
Optical is interesting. No one ever really talks about it. Once the fiber is laid in place it is sort of permanent and expensive to update. But the equipment on either end is constantly improved (more short lifespan components), and the capacity is increased exponentially, without laying new fiber.
I am inclined to pay Huang some heed. But, I do not disregard your point, either. Plus, it is not just chips, there is storage, energy, networking, even buildings involved.
@DrVenture, are trucks on the road also infrastructure? Trains on tracks? Vessels on waterways?
Whatever you call it, I've got it covered in the taxable with GLFOX, GRID, SMH, PAVE, FIW, and AIRR. But I'm not adding to those positions at the present time. I'm also hoping that--aside from SMH--they don't all start making Nvidia one of their top ten holdings. GRID does have a small stake.
I did recently add GLIFX to the IRA. It's still reasonably priced for my time frame. And I understand it better than some of the bond funds discussed hereabouts.
I have added some broad-basket commodity funds to my sector watch list. I'm not yet sure how they would fit into the taxable or the IRA.
I should point out that I am not focused on chips here, rather the AI build out and potential contribution to societies. I think that was what Huang was talking about, not just his companies role.
@WABAC Thanks for the tickers, I will look at them and I always keep a list of interesting prospects. Mostly, I just keep several mutual funds, then add as needed with individual stocks. And swap around mutual funds as necessary.
Not sure about the semantics, but to my mind, it is all part of a "system". Waterways without vessels are just scenery. Tracks without trains are just an eyesore. In the context of "hard" infrastructure, I get your point, though.
To my way of thinking, It comes down to where we are in the AI buildout scheme. This seems like very early days. Unlike tulips, AI apparently has something to offer in the long term beyond aesthetics. My own prior failure of imagination, causes me to keep an open mind. When cars began to incorporate digital components, I failed to see the potential. A digital clock display? Seemed superfluous.
In retrospect, I didn't foresee the advent of digital fuel injection, anti-lock brakes, adaptive suspension, GPS, driving aids, any of it. I suspect that once again someone sees the future, and I am not clued in. I think the build out, the endless cycle of upgrades, and whatever it produces will once again be something that I never saw coming. I don't think that many of us actually can project how this will alter all of our lives.
@DrVenture. Cars have changed alot. But how much money has been made on their stock, or that of their suppliers? And think of all the repair chains that tried to sell you a new set of spark-plug wires every time you got a tuneup. Buggy whips.
Not a day goes by without some new prediction about AI that looks like a lot of other predictions. I figure I've got the AI/technology side covered well enough. Ive seen some ups and downs there over the years. but it never goes away.
Getting back to the OP, I think funds like PAVE or AIRR might be in good positions to capitalize on the rush to reshore things like the mining, recycling, and processing of heavy metals. I'll probably start looking around for a fund with exposure to overseas companies to go with them. In a similar vein I'm looking at FLOWX to replace FIW. And GRID will be their to wire them all up.
Investing in infrastructure could be profitable in the years ahead due to the state of U.S. and intl. infrastructure. I've previously considered GLFOX/GLIFX as a way to play this but there was "no room" in my portfolio. Prof. Snowball is scheduled to publish an article regarding infrastructure funds in March.
To be clear, my analogy about cars wasn't about any investment potential, rather my own failure of imagination. It taught me a lesson that just because I don't see the possibilities of technological advancement, that they may great and just over the horizon.
I cannot see the true potential of AI on society, investing, or much of anything. But, we might be on the cusp of significant change. How to best invest in that is something else. So yes, back to the original question.
Short term, we may be overbought in many areas. That would not surprise me. The safer, obvious bets seem to be raw materials, energy infrastructure plays and various suppliers.
Right now, I think that most people see AI as a fancified search engine. The companies that are able to use it for big productivity gains may be where the real money is made. Maybe healthcare, finance or logistic firms?
To be clear, my analogy about cars wasn't about any investment potential, rather my own failure of imagination. It taught me a lesson that just because I don't see the possibilities of technological advancement, that they may great and just over the horizon.
I get that. But this is an investment forum after all. And--speaking existentially--how do any of us prepare ourselves for a future we cannot possibly know in a vast uncaring universe?
Maybe your brain did you a favor keeping you from investing in automobiles.
In another life I see people using AI in an attempt to deal with trigeminal autonomic cephalagia, which I also deal with. Yeah. They're all pretty much web scrapers. And they aren't reluctant to scrape sources like Amazon and Reddit depending on the quality of the cues they receive. They're often consistently wrong on some aspects like medicare coverage.
Some of them write better than others. And that's a low bar grading on the curve.
Comments
"DraftKings has introduced 'DraftKings Predictions,' a specialized platform allowing users to trade contracts on financial, entertainment, and sports events in 38 states, as reported in late 2025. This app functions like a prediction market, enabling users to take positions on financial outcomes rather than traditional stock market investing. The app allows users to trade yes/no contracts on real-world financial and sports outcomes. These events contracts are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not as traditional gambling, allowing for broader availability in states without legalized sports betting."
No word yet on how soon one might transfer their retirement accounts to DraftKings. Rest assured they're working on it.
I don't want to follow the herd trying to make money off of Donnie's impulses....
While the big run up in markets of all kinds, should give anyone pause, it is always important to keep an open mind. In that regard, I have heard what is referred to as the "AI bubble", as actually being a huge infrastructure investment. This is an attractive argument. Chips are infrastructure, I would say. Along with the energy build out.
As to when it pays off, or if it is already priced in, I have no idea. Or where we sit right now, in terms of rare earth minerals, I have no idea.
https://fortune.com/2026/01/21/jensen-huang-on-ai-bubble-largest-infrastructure-buildout-history/
I don't blame Huang for trying. But as we are learning, AI facilities are voracious users of infrastructure rather than contributors to it.
Interesting take. Yes, I suppose that Huang can be considered biased. I am not convinced either way. Though, as devil's advocate, I might argue that no matter the "lifespan of chips", they are a huge part of infrastructure. Telecommunications equipment is also huge part of infrastructure and the hardware evolves at a rapid pace too. From servers, to storage to optical networking, the hardware becomes obsolete rapidly. It all contains chips. Internet, AI, even automobiles have this truncated lifespan on the road to obsolescence.
Optical is interesting. No one ever really talks about it. Once the fiber is laid in place it is sort of permanent and expensive to update. But the equipment on either end is constantly improved (more short lifespan components), and the capacity is increased exponentially, without laying new fiber.
I am inclined to pay Huang some heed. But, I do not disregard your point, either. Plus, it is not just chips, there is storage, energy, networking, even buildings involved.
Whatever you call it, I've got it covered in the taxable with GLFOX, GRID, SMH, PAVE, FIW, and AIRR. But I'm not adding to those positions at the present time. I'm also hoping that--aside from SMH--they don't all start making Nvidia one of their top ten holdings. GRID does have a small stake.
I did recently add GLIFX to the IRA. It's still reasonably priced for my time frame. And I understand it better than some of the bond funds discussed hereabouts.
I have added some broad-basket commodity funds to my sector watch list. I'm not yet sure how they would fit into the taxable or the IRA.
@WABAC Thanks for the tickers, I will look at them and I always keep a list of interesting prospects. Mostly, I just keep several mutual funds, then add as needed with individual stocks. And swap around mutual funds as necessary.
Not sure about the semantics, but to my mind, it is all part of a "system". Waterways without vessels are just scenery. Tracks without trains are just an eyesore. In the context of "hard" infrastructure, I get your point, though.
To my way of thinking, It comes down to where we are in the AI buildout scheme. This seems like very early days. Unlike tulips, AI apparently has something to offer in the long term beyond aesthetics. My own prior failure of imagination, causes me to keep an open mind. When cars began to incorporate digital components, I failed to see the potential. A digital clock display? Seemed superfluous.
In retrospect, I didn't foresee the advent of digital fuel injection, anti-lock brakes, adaptive suspension, GPS, driving aids, any of it. I suspect that once again someone sees the future, and I am not clued in. I think the build out, the endless cycle of upgrades, and whatever it produces will once again be something that I never saw coming. I don't think that many of us actually can project how this will alter all of our lives.
Not a day goes by without some new prediction about AI that looks like a lot of other predictions. I figure I've got the AI/technology side covered well enough. Ive seen some ups and downs there over the years. but it never goes away.
Getting back to the OP, I think funds like PAVE or AIRR might be in good positions to capitalize on the rush to reshore things like the mining, recycling, and processing of heavy metals. I'll probably start looking around for a fund with exposure to overseas companies to go with them. In a similar vein I'm looking at FLOWX to replace FIW. And GRID will be their to wire them all up.
Deglobalization may become as big a story as AI.
I've previously considered GLFOX/GLIFX as a way to play this but there was "no room" in my portfolio.
Prof. Snowball is scheduled to publish an article regarding infrastructure funds in March.
I cannot see the true potential of AI on society, investing, or much of anything. But, we might be on the cusp of significant change. How to best invest in that is something else. So yes, back to the original question.
Short term, we may be overbought in many areas. That would not surprise me. The safer, obvious bets seem to be raw materials, energy infrastructure plays and various suppliers.
Right now, I think that most people see AI as a fancified search engine. The companies that are able to use it for big productivity gains may be where the real money is made. Maybe healthcare, finance or logistic firms?
Maybe your brain did you a favor keeping you from investing in automobiles.
In another life I see people using AI in an attempt to deal with trigeminal autonomic cephalagia, which I also deal with. Yeah. They're all pretty much web scrapers. And they aren't reluctant to scrape sources like Amazon and Reddit depending on the quality of the cues they receive. They're often consistently wrong on some aspects like medicare coverage.
Some of them write better than others. And that's a low bar grading on the curve.