The Adjustment Phase

Strategy is starting to matter more than momentum.

The AI story isn’t one story anymore. It’s starting to fork. Some companies are pouring capital into the biggest intelligence engines ever built. Others are being rewarded for spending almost nothing. Platforms are quietly turning into creative stages. And, at the edge of the system, the cost of AI mistakes is showing up in court filings and customer cancellations.

The center of gravity is shifting again. Welcome to the adjustment phase, where strategy begins to matter more than spectacle.

Apple’s Contrarian Advantage

Source: LA Times, Nov 11

Apple entered the year with questions about whether it was falling behind. Fourteen billion dollars in AI capex sounded small next to Microsoft’s ninety four billion and Meta’s seventy billion. But as sentiment turns and investors look harder at returns, that restraint now looks like strength. Apple is participating in the AI wave without carrying the risk profile of an AI infrastructure company. It has cash, margins, and the flexibility to adopt mod…