Jim Chanos & Val Zlatev: Long and Short Alpha in AI, Semiconductors, Data Centers, Neoclouds, and Data Centers | MacroMinds Symposium 2026

In this panel at MacroMinds Symposium, Jack Farley sits down with legendary short seller Jim Chanos and Val Zlatev, Portfolio Manager and Partner at Analog Century Management, to analyze the long and short opportunities of the AI and semiconductor boom. Chanos highlights a significant timing disconnect wherein chip suppliers recognize revenues immediately while hyperscalers capitalize their massive infrastructure costs—a trend mirroring the late-1990s CapEx boom before tech earnings collapsed by 40%. Chanos expresses deep skepticism toward "neo-cloud" data center developers like CoreWeave, modeling a very generous ten-year GPU lifespan (depreciation schedule) to forecast low pre-tax returns on invested capital. From a micro perspective, Val Zlatev outlines the structural upside for high-demand memory stocks, noting they trade at cheap forward multiples because physical supply chain constraints hard-cap semiconductor equipment manufacturing growth at 30% annually. The discussion also scrutinizes Elon Musk’s projection for one terawatt of compute capacity, breaking down the immense real-world barriers facing space data centers, including launch costs, space radiation, and maintenance logistics. They also dissect the SpaceX S1 filing, revealing that the primary rocket launch division continues to lose money despite the profitability of Starlink. Recorded on June 4th at MacroMinds Symposium.

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