Cuban Says AI Chips Are the Next Investable Asset Class

Cuban was once one of Bitcoin's more prominent American skeptics. In 2019, he compared Bitcoin to collectibles and said he would rather own bananas because they had practical utility. He did acknowledge that Bitcoin could function as a store of value.

He later warmed up to crypto, becoming particularly enthusiastic about Ethereum because of smart contracts and their ability to support decentralized applications. He argued that Ethereum's utility gave it an advantage over Bitcoin. He repeatedly said he viewed Bitcoin similarly to gold as a safe haven asset.

In May, Cuban revealed he had sold most of his BTC holdings. His main complaint was that the flagship cryptocurrency had failed to behave as a viable macro hedge. "I think Bitcoin has lost the plot," Cuban said during a recent interview. He claimed he viewed BTC as a superior version of gold but became disappointed after the cryptocurrency severely underperformed.

Cuban's chip bet is a bet on AI infrastructure demand outstripping supply. The question is whether GPUs can hold value the way Bitcoin has, or whether they remain depreciating hardware with a finite useful life.