The Balance Sheet - Behind the AI Revolution (March 2026) | Apollo Global | Report
Author: Rob Bittencourt, Partner & Head of Apollo Thematic Investing
The Core Thesis: HALO is the New Paradigm
Apollo argues that the investment zeitgeist has fundamentally shifted away from capital-light, high-margin software businesses toward what they term HALO — Hard Assets, Low Obsolescence. Factories, fiber, and railroads are back in vogue, driven largely by AI-induced obsolescence fears in the software and knowledge-work sectors.
The casualties of this shift are visible: enterprise SaaS revenue multiples have collapsed 38% in just six months (from ~7.5x to 4.6x EV/NTM revenue as of March 2026), with disruption anxiety also spreading into accounting, insurance brokerage, and wealth advisory.
The Capital Math is Staggering
Apollo estimates the AI buildout requires $4–5 trillion in digital infrastructure investment by 2030 across data centers, power, chips, servers, and networking. To justify that spend and generate acceptable returns, AI end-user revenue must scale from roughly — a roughly 30–40x increase in five years.
References
Disclaimer: Orignal content owned by or sourced from third parties. It does not represent the views of 'Nuggets' platform or it's team. AI is used extensively across this platform including for summaries. Accuracy is not guaranteed, there can be mistakes. Any info or content on this platform is not a financial, legal, or investment advice. Do your own research. Refer for complete disclosures:- Terms of Use · Full Disclaimer
More nuggets
Jul 18, 2026
China’s EV makers are already reshaping global auto markets | 17 Jul 2026 | Strategic Alternatives Podcast
1. Executive Briefing TL;DR The Core Thesis: China’s automotive original equipment manufacturers OEMs are fundamentally shifting from domestic dominance to rapid global localization. Backed by entrenched control of the battery supply chain…
Jul 18, 2026
Khan Academy CEO: The Real AI Opportunity Is in Boring Industries | Sal Khan
"if you can automate yourself out of a job we're going to give you a better job with better pay" Sal Khan 00:00:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s Iz lLAhdg&t=0m30s "don't run to where everyone else is running try to find the lanes that…
Jul 16, 2026
OpenAI’s Compute Chief: We Can’t Build Fast Enough | Sachin Katti | 16 Jul 2026 | Deploying AI
"anytime we have thought we have enough compute we can slow down always negatively surprises like oh we should not have slowed down" Sachin Katti 00:00:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEZBlmvxx4o&t=0h0m0s "the best way to visualize data…