@FinanceYF5: 1/ Manufacturing revival is not that simple. a16z's chart of the week: US manufacturing has a small recovery, but the weak spot is not 'demand' but capital stock. AI is driving investment, but what's really missing are the machines that make machines.
Summary
The article discusses the complexity of US manufacturing recovery in a thread format, pointing out that the weak spot is capital stock rather than demand, and mentions that AI is driving investment, but what is truly lacking are the machines that make machines.
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Cached at: 06/22/26, 07:40 PM
1/ 🧵 Manufacturing revival isn’t that simple
a16z Chart of the Week core: US manufacturing is seeing a mild recovery, but the bottleneck is not “demand”—it’s capital stock.
AI is driving investment, but what’s really missing are the machines that make machines. 👇 https://t.co/iQ6qbY155M
1/ Manufacturing revival isn’t that simple
a16z Chart of the Week core: US manufacturing is seeing a mild recovery, but the bottleneck is not “demand”—it’s capital stock.
AI is driving investment, but what’s really missing are the machines that make machines.
2/ Buying more, making less
In multiple industrial categories, import growth has outpaced the capital stock of domestic equipment and facilities.
This means the US can be busier, but that doesn’t mean the production base is thickening.
3/ AI eats up new investment
Equipment investment has indeed rebounded in recent years, growing nearly 9%, but the bulk is concentrated in AI-related equipment.
Semiconductors, turbines, and HVAC are heating up, but broader manufacturing has yet to fully benefit.
4/ Machine factories are still too small
The most critical “factories that make machines” have doubled since 2022, but only from $1.5 billion to $3.9 billion.
Direction is right, but the magnitude is far from enough.
5/ Search is going zero-click
Similarweb/SparkToro data shows zero-click searches are now nearly 70%, compared to about 45% a decade ago.
AI summaries could further reduce click-through rates by nearly 60%, making open web traffic even more expensive.
6/ SaaS isn’t rebounding uniformly
Software stocks show a V-shaped recovery, but the market is highly granular: Cyber and Observability have recovered the strongest.
Cold conclusion: The AI threat is real, but not every company is priced equally.
7/ Original link
Charts of the Week: Making the Stuff that Makes the Stuff
That’s all.
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