S&P 500 Hits Record High as AI Infrastructure Funding Surges

The S&P 500 closed at a record high after surpassing 7,800 last week, driven by moderating inflation data. A 0.1% increase in the July consumer price index reduced market expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in September.

Within the technology sector, Intel raised $20 billion through a common stock sale to fund AI manufacturing capacity. CEO Lip-Bu Tan supported the capital raise with a personal investment of $12 million in company stock.

Simultaneously, Nvidia partnered with six major asset managers, including BlackRock and Blackstone, to launch a $500 billion financing initiative. The program aims to categorize AI compute and GPUs as long-lived, revenue-generating infrastructure rather than depreciating technology, effectively establishing AI compute as a new investable asset class. CoreWeave CEO Mike Intrator noted that older Nvidia GPUs are remaining useful longer than investors previously expected.