AI Payoff Could Take Decades: HSBC, General Atlantic CEOs Reportedly Question Pace Of Monetization

• Speaking at a panel discussion, HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said the current revenue profiles of companies may not justify the massive spending on AI development.
• General Atlantic CEO William Ford agreed, noting that AI is a long-term innovation akin to railroads or electricity — both of which were difficult to gauge in their early years.
• The remarks come amid an ongoing debate over the returns on AI investments and whether Big Tech’s massive spending will translate into proportional gains.

Heads of some of the world's largest financial institutions warned on Tuesday of a mismatch between investments and revenues.

Speaking at the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong, HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said that while the massive investment in AI infrastructure is essential, the current revenue profiles may not justify such a scale of spending, according to a CNBC report.

Elhedery noted that consumers are not yet willing to pay for AI, while companies remain cautious as the technology’s promised productivity gains have yet to materialize at scale.

“These are like five year trends, and therefore the ramp up means that we will start seeing real revenue benefits and real readiness to pay for it, probably later than the expectations of investors,” he said, speaking during a panel talk at the event.

William Ford, chairman and CEO of General Atlantic, speaking at the same panel, agreed: “In the long term, you’re going to create a whole new set of industries and applications, and there will be a productivity payoff, but that’s a 10-, 20-year play.”

Ford said companies’ huge AI investment shows their belief in the long-term impact of the technology, but “you need to, sort of, pay up front for the opportunity that’s going to come down the road.” He compared AI to railroads and electricity, “that had profound impacts over time, and reshaped the economy, but were very hard to predict exactly how in the first few years.”

The remarks come amid an ongoing debate over the returns on AI investments and whether Big Tech’s massive spending will translate into proportional gains — a concern that also poses risks for U.S. markets.

Despite the volatility caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq indices have gained 16.5% and 30.7%, respectively, year-to-date, largely driven by investors betting on tech companies for their AI advancements.

In their recent quarterly reports, Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon have stated that their capital expenditures are expected to increase next year, indicating that the pace of AI investment is far from slowing down.

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