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Venture capitalist Alex Davis just threw cold water on the AI infrastructure boom, despite being knee-deep in it. His firm, Disruptive, backed Groq and helped broker a $20 billion licensing deal with Nvidia (NVDA). Now he’s warning that too many data centers are being built “without guaranteed tenants.” Translation: the AI hype train might be overbuilding its tracks.

This comes as Michael Burry, of The Big Short fame, is shorting Nvidia and Palantir. He’s seen this movie (and been in it) before and apparently doesn’t like the sequel. Meanwhile, Meta (META) is still in acquisition mode, snapping up Chinese AI startup Manus to expand its AI footprint. It’s clear that some AI titans are doubling down, other smaller ones are quietly cashing out.

We're watching a market caught between two extremes: a tech upheaval fueled by trillions in commitments or a spectacular bubble waiting for its pin. For investors, it might be time to look past the shiny AI tickers and consider adding utilities, REITs, and energy names that keep the lights on for all those “smart” servers. When the hype fades, the power bill stays!

Mark Zuckerberg told employees to "buckle up" for an "intense" year in January. He wasn't kidding. Meta spent 2025 in full blitz mode, overhauling divisions, pouring $60-65 billion into AI infrastructure, and cutting thousands of jobs while chasing Zuckerberg's vision of "personal superintelligence." The company hired Scale AI's 28-year-old founder, Alexandr Wang, as chief AI officer for a reported fortune, rebranded its AI team to Meta Superintelligence Labs, and acquired AI startup Manus to add millions of paying users.

The chaos was real. Former employees went public, claiming "nobody really knew what anyone was doing" during the first half of the year. Meta reorganized its AI efforts four times in six months, creating rifts between the "old guard" and new hires who got massive compensation packages. By August, 600 jobs were cut from the AI division alone.

But here's the thing: the chaos might be constructive. Meta's stock is up 7.5% this year (lagging the S&P, sure), employee sentiment surveys show "optimism" jumped to 80% by November. For investors, Meta is betting that moving harder and faster will separate winners from losers in the AI race. The question is whether $65 billion in capex will translate to actual revenue, or just really expensive infrastructure.

In this year-in-review episode, Nick and Jack skip the obvious headlines (Trump, AI, inflation) and zero in on the three pop-business forces that quietly shaped how we worked, spent, and lived in 2025—from everything getting “maxed” to robots clocking in and kale-collar workers tightening their belts.

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That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake