AI DATA CENTERS ARE POWERING THE FUTURE — BUT WHAT ARE THEY REALLY COSTING US? ⚡💧 AI may feel invisible, but behind every chatbot, image generator and powerful AI model is something very physical: enormous buildings filled with thousands of hot, power-hungry computer chips. And now NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is pushing back against growing fears about these AI data centers. Huang argues that concerns about their environmental impact are being exaggerated. His bigger claim is even more interesting: the AI boom could actually help local communities by forcing investment into aging power grids, new electricity generation and cleaner energy sources such as solar and nuclear power. The idea is simple. If AI companies need huge amounts of electricity, someone has to build the infrastructure to supply it. That could mean stronger transmission lines, new power plants and upgraded grids that eventually benefit more than just the data centers. But then comes the question everyone keeps asking: What about the water? Traditional data centers can use large amounts of water for cooling. Newer AI facilities, however, are increasingly turning to closed-loop liquid cooling. Instead of constantly consuming fresh water, the coolant circulates through the system again and again. Meta, for example, says its newest AI-focused facilities use closed-loop cooling that requires very little ongoing water consumption. (Facebook) So is the water crisis around AI just a myth? Not quite that simple. The amount of water used can vary dramatically depending on where a data center is built, how it is cooled, and where its electricity comes from. Research published in 2026 also points out that AI’s water footprint extends beyond the building itself — including water associated with electricity generation and semiconductor manufacturing. (ScienceDirect) And that is where the story becomes much more complicated. A data center might use relatively little water at the facility level, while still creating pressure on a water-stressed region through its broader supply chain. Likewise, a company may pay for new power infrastructure, but communities can still debate who ultimately carries the costs and whether the benefits are fairly distributed. Americans themselves appear increasingly worried. A September 2026 AP-NORC/University of Chicago survey found that 53% of US adults were extremely or very concerned about AI’s environmental impact, up from 41% the previous year. Most respondents also expressed strong concern about the effect of data centers on local electricity prices and water supplies. So perhaps the real mystery isn’t whether AI data centers are simply “good” or “bad” for the environment. It is where they are built, how they are powered, how they are cooled, who pays for the infrastructure — and who receives the benefits. The AI revolution may end up building cleaner and stronger infrastructure that communities desperately need. But if that happens, it will depend on how responsibly the industry builds it. Source: Al Jazeera, “Poll shows Americans are increasingly alarmed by AI’s ecological footprint” (2026). (

Happy weekend, Just sold all my altcoins at this price. I don’t think Q4 is set up for a straight-line crypto rally. The Fed just hiked rates by 25bps to 3.75-4.00%, while inflation is picking up again. August CPI came in at 3.4% YoY, with higher energy prices contributing to the pressure. For me, the near-term transmission still looks like this: Inflation ↑ → Treasury yields ↑ → Fed stays hawkish → USD/liquidity gets tighter → risk assets stay under pressure Crypto can eventually benefit from the long-term “debasement” thesis, but that doesn’t mean the market has to price it in immediately. And when I look outside crypto, the setup makes me even more cautious: – S&P 500 is still trading close to record-high territory. US equities have stayed surprisingly strong despite higher yields, oil and geopolitical risk. I still think this market needs some kind of reset before another sustainable risk-on leg. – US debt is approaching the $40T area. Treasury data already showed total public debt above $39.28T in June 2026, after rising from roughly $35.5T at the end of FY2024. That means the fiscal pressure isn’t exactly going away. – Oil is back above $100. Brent is around $104 and WTI around $101, while the broader Middle East conflict is still creating supply risk. Higher energy costs are already feeding back into inflation and yields. – US political risk is increasing into the midterms. I wouldn’t treat control of Congress as a done deal, but the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll had Democrats ahead 44% vs 37% on the generic congressional ballot, while Trump’s approval was around 35%. That adds another layer of uncertainty into November. So when I put all the data together, I don’t see a clean environment for BTC and alts to immediately enter a huge Q4 expansion. My base sequence is still: Stocks ↓ → $BTC ↓ → alts ↓↓ → Fed/liquidity response → BTC recovers first → $ETH/large caps → smaller alts The important part is the liquidity response. If stocks finally correct and financial conditions tighten enough, the next big crypto opportunity may come after the market forces policymakers to become less hawkish, not before. So personally, I’m not chasing the idea of a guaranteed Q4 altseason here. I’d rather stay patient, keep liquidity ready, and watch Treasury yields, oil, Fed policy, BTC dominance and ETH/BTC. If those start turning together, then I’ll be much more interested in taking risk. Just my personal market view, not financial advice.

China’s AI companies are building a multibillion dollar revenue machines. The chart estimates that annual recurring revenue across major Chinese AI companies rose from approximately $4 billion in December 2025 to $13 billion by August 2026. That represents more than a threefold increase in less than one year. ByteDance appears to be the largest contributor at approximately $4 billion, while Tencent, Alibaba, and Zhipu are each estimated at roughly $2 billion. DeepSeek, MiniMax, and Kimi are also generating additional revenue as Chinese companies commercialize their AI models through cloud services, subscriptions, advertising, enterprise software, and application programming interfaces. The important point is that these companies are moving beyond model development and beginning to generate recurring revenue from real customers. When AI usage continues expanding across search, advertising, coding, customer service, and business automation, these revenue streams could grow rapidly. The strongest companies will eventually benefit from operating leverage because the cost of serving additional customers can decline as their models, infrastructure and distribution networks scale. ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba may have an advantage because they already control large user bases, advertising platforms, cloud businesses, and enterprise relationships. Zhipu, DeepSeek, MiniMax, and Kimi could benefit if their models gain market share among Chinese developers, businesses, and consumers. Now here is how you can invest in all of these. Alibaba provides exposure to cloud computing and its own AI ecosystem. Tencent offers exposure to AI through cloud services, advertising, gaming, enterprise software, and its large consumer platform. Baidu is another option because it has invested heavily in AI models, cloud infrastructure, and autonomous technologies. You can also look at Chinese technology ETFs, which may provide broader exposure to companies benefiting from the country’s AI expansion. The chart uses estimates and annualized revenue run rates, so the figures should not be treated as audited revenue but the trend is clear Chinese AI companies are scaling both usage and monetization. If you enjoyed this breakdown, make sure to follow @MelvinInvests as I continue breaking down the biggest AI opportunities in both the US and China.

Recent tail-risk events across the crypto industry over the past year have reinforced the need for better risk segmentation in managed strategies, curated vaults, and yield-bearing stablecoins. Tranching separates risk and yield into two distinct layers: capital that takes the risk is paid more for it, and capital that does not is protected from it. Junior holders earn amplified yield in exchange for absorbing losses first. Senior holders benefit from automatic protection, backed by junior coverage, with no claims to file or manual intervention required. Same underlying asset. Two distinct points on the risk-reward curve. If you’re a curator, vault infrastructure provider, yield-bearing stablecoin issuer, or credit protocol looking to integrate tranching and distribute your strategies to a diverse investor base, let’s talk.

If you missed the Semi event live stream, here are my thoughts. 1. Nicely presented. I do think Tesla believes we want our production reveals or intros to be short. I bet they could have had some testimonials from truckers or more technical descriptions to make it at least 60 minutes. 2. Great to see all those huge brands. But I would have liked to have heard a backlog number. They have done that on other products. 3. 98% uptime is an enormous benefit. 4. 250,000 miles between oil changes. 5. Fully sealed coolant system. 6. Brand new motor based on plaid design, but lighter, more reliable. This truck is going to sell like hotcakes.

How do you benefit from tokenization? There are two ways to think about it. 1. Invest in the companies building it Back the companies building the infrastructure, platforms, exchanges, custody, issuance, distribution and everything else needed to bring trillions of dollars of assets onchain. If tokenization grows, these companies are positioned to capture part of that market. 2. Invest in the assets themselves Tokenization can give you access to assets that were previously difficult or impossible for you to access. Whether it be Private credit, funds, real estate, bonds, equities, commodities and more. So you can invest in the companies building the rails or use those rails to access the assets moving onto them. And eventually, it could be both.

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$ALNY -5% this morning Sellside comments re: the 1.14 event rate ratio from the stabilizer (combo) arm of the CARDIO-TTRansform study: Paul Matteis, Stifel "While minimal benefit was largely expected for the eplontersen/tafamidis combo arm in CARDIO-TTRansform, it's an incremental surprise to see that the combination had a hazard ratio of 1.14--clearly worse than expected." Michael Leuchten, Jefferies: "The presentation showed a treatment effect of rate ratio (RR) 1.14 for the baseline stabiliser group vs overall RR of 0.89, with a strong enough interaction p-value (0.017) suggesting a potential differential treatment effect between patients without stabiliser at baseline. The primary endpoint curves in patients that were on stabilisers at baseline do not show an improvement over time, if anything there is a worsening rate in the combination group." Cory Kasimov, Evercore: "...the 1.14 RR in pts on baseline stabilizers was the key metric investors cared about most coming in and will likely not be viewed favorably as it relates to implications for ALNY. At first glance, the results appear less suggestive of a trial-design issue and more consistent with a potential limitation to the incremental benefit of dual therapy with silencers and stabilizers, further entrenching the competitive positioning of the stabilizer class."

Tesla is hosting an "End of Summer Fun" event in Richmond, BC tomorrow for a good cause 🇨🇦 "Join us for our End of Summer Celebration on Sunday, August 23, 2026, from 11 AM to 2 PM at Tesla Richmond. Bring your kids to explore our showroom and play our vehicle questionnaire game for a chance to bring home a gift from Tesla. We'll also be accepting donations of unused school supplies to benefit students of our local school district." RSVP >>