Wash: AI May Become 'New Factor of Production' – Annualized Token Sales of Two Major AI Giants Exceed $100 Billion

Beating AI Express News reports that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh focused on artificial intelligence in his speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium, describing current AI development as a "historic turning point" whose progress has outpaced even the most optimistic forecasts from years ago. Warsh noted that corporate capital expenditure is growing at its fastest pace since 2021, with an approximate 9% increase over the past four quarters, more than half of which is tied to AI infrastructure. Going forward, he will focus on the "second-order change" in AI-related capital expenditure growth – namely, whether the growth rate will continue to accelerate. Warsh added that the annualized token sales of two leading AI companies now exceed $100 billion, a more than 500% increase from a year ago. He stated that the Federal Reserve views AI as "a new variable" that could become a new factor of production, with its development impacting economic growth and monetary policy formulation. Warsh also raised unresolved questions: whether AI can drive sustained productivity gains, whether token usage is complementary or competitive with labor, and which entities will ultimately capture the economic surplus generated by AI – AI labs, chipmakers, energy suppliers, or cloud service providers.