John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, at the 2015 CGI Annual Meeting in New York.
Adam Jeffrey | CNBC
Former Cisco CEO John Chambers told CNBC on Wednesday that artificial intelligence will power the stock market for the next decade.
Chambers, who is also the founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures, said that AI will not only determine the winners and losers of the tech sector, but that technology-related stocks will likely outsell non-AI stocks by three to one. I will leave behind.
“AI will power the stock market for the next decade,” Chambers told CNBC's Karen Tso on the sidelines of the VivaTech conference in Paris.
“I think the overall question is if you're an investor and you invest in a portfolio of AI stocks, and [if] You do that consistently over the next five to 10 years, you're going to do great.”
Chambers said 38 percent of venture capital in the U.S. went into AI stocks in the first quarter. He expects that to increase from 50 percent to 50 percent, while estimating that 12 percent of venture capital went into AI stocks in Europe in the first quarter.
AI chipmaker Nvidia has seen its stock rise fivefold since the end of 2022. After doubling in 2023. A surge in demand for AI-related products has fueled much of the firm's rally.
Chambers compared Nvidia's place in the AI market to Cisco's. in the internet market. “If you look at Nvidia's sales, it's going to be very indicative of what's going on overall,” he said.
Publicis chairman Maurice Levy emphasized that an AI “transformation” will occur, as the technology will undoubtedly eliminate some jobs, while also creating more value-added roles.
“We don't expect to see a net negative, we expect to see a net positive,” Levy told CNBC on Wednesday. “And the companies that adopt AI, the faster they do it, the more growth they'll have, and the more jobs they'll create that really have some added value.”
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit fresh new highs on Tuesday, as investors awaited earnings from Nvidia. The Nasdaq Composite is up about 12 percent this year.
“The stock market has grown dramatically over the past 12 months because of AI,” Chambers said. “European stocks and the FTSE were slow to move, but have been positive over the past six months.”
“I think AI will be like the Internet, except three to five times more powerful. It will change your life in every way.”
— Karen Gilchrist contributed to this report.