NVIDIA’s earnings are almost here. Investors are already concerned about the rise of artificial intelligence.

Nvidia is scheduled to announce its quarterly results next Wednesday. This could be a defining moment for the bull market.

Concern about artificial intelligence is growing on Wall Street heading into Nvidia (NVDA) print. AI stocks weighed on the broader market last week, when the Nasdaq had its worst weekly performance since the “liberalization day” tariff announcement in early April, rattling markets.

The mood has improved to start the week amid signs that the government is moving closer to reopening. But AI concerns returned after Japanese investment firm SoftBank said Tuesday it had sold its entire stake in Nvidia: Shares of both companies fell despite SoftBank executives clarifying that the sale was done to fund other investments in AI, not a sign that the company had soured with the chip maker.

Some investors are increasingly concerned about the formation of an AI bubble, fueled by a series of circular trade deals, massive investments in AI, and optimism about the technology’s near-term commercial utility. Michael Burry, known for predicting the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, recently revealed that his hedge fund had sold $1.2 billion worth of Nvidia and Palantir (PLTR) shares as of the end of September.

Major high-tech companies — tech giants like Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META), and Oracle (ORCL) — plan to spend hundreds of billions of dollars this year and next to build data centers and outfit them with the advanced chips and support equipment needed to train and operate artificial intelligence. This spending has been a boon for companies like Nvidia, whose sales and profits have risen over the past three years.

But some investors wonder whether the superscalers will recoup their investments. BCA Research analysts last week suggested selling large-volume stocks, citing their belief that the speed and scale of AI investments will impact companies’ returns on equity, and thus their stock valuations, regardless of earnings growth in their core businesses.

“Our biggest concern is a repeat of the telecom and fiber buildout experiences, where the revenue curve has failed to materialize at a pace that justifies continued investment,” JPMorgan analysts wrote on Wednesday.

JPMorgan estimates that technology companies will need about $650 billion in annual revenue indefinitely to be able to earn a 10% return on their investments in artificial intelligence through 2030. Broadly, they liken this number to approximately six basis points of global GDP, or approximately $35 per month from each current iPhone user.

The growing importance of OpenAI in the rally has also raised eyebrows. According to CEO Sam Altman, the startup recently reached an annual revenue run rate of $20 billion. But JPMorgan estimates that the ChatGPT maker has agreed to pay between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion to just three companies — Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom (AVGO) — between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion for data center capacity over the next five years.

Are big AI predictions “sexier than steak”?

To be sure, many investors see enough reason to remain bullish on AI stocks — or at least, that it’s too difficult to call the top to bet against them.

They point out that comparisons made today with the dot-com bubble ignore that technology valuations are lower than the dot-com heyday, and that, unlike the dot-com craze of the 1990s, the companies making the biggest investments in AI infrastructure are among the world’s largest and most profitable companies.

Others point to the possibility that the Fed is in the middle of an interest rate cutting cycle, which would spur the construction of data centers by making borrowing more affordable. Lower interest rates are also expected to increase liquidity in financial markets, which will likely boost stock prices.

AI excitement could still push stocks higher despite skeptics. Chipmaker AMD said on Tuesday that it expects the AI ​​chip market to reach $1 trillion by 2030, and that it aims to increase its share of that market to double digits. Oppenheimer analysts in a note on Wednesday called the updates “more exciting than a steak” and lamented the lack of a major announcement for customers.

However, the forecast has caught the attention of investors. AMD shares ended the day up more than 8%.