The AI boom has sparked a water crisis. What are the investment opportunities in the US stock market?
With the booming development of the AI industry, following a surge in electricity demand, the industry is now facing a major new challenge — water scarcity.
J.P. Morgan said that AI data centers are receiving a lot of attention because they use a lot of electricity.
But people often overlook the fact that it consumes a lot of water.
Because server chips generate a large amount of heat during operation, if the heat is not properly controlled, it will affect the stable operation of the data center. As a result, tech giants are spending a lot of water to cool their data centers.
Citing data from Bluefield Research, J.P. Morgan Chase pointed out in the research report that Total water consumption in global data centers, including on-site cooling and off-site power generation, grew 6% per year from 2017 to 2022.
The study predicts that water consumption could jump to 450 million gallons per day by 2030. This is equivalent to about 681 Olympic-standard swimming pool fresh water needed every day to cool global data centers.
Source: J.P. Morgan
Currently, most global data centers use fans to circulate air to reduce temperatures. However, today's increasingly powerful chips are making this air cooling system reach the maximum heat dissipation it can achieve.
One way to overcome this problem is to run liquid coolant through pipelines in the server to absorb heat. Liquids have a larger heat capacity and transfer heat faster. At the same volume, water absorbs more than 3,000 times more heat than air.
The AI theme has been mainstream throughout the US stock market from last year to this year. From AI servers to AI PCs stick by stick, bulls have continued to flourish, and have even spread to beneficiary stocks related to the AI-induced water crisis. In addition to the shortage of water resources, the AI boom will also cause sewage treatment problems, especially semiconductors. In the electronics production process, there will be a large amount of metal waste liquid, mainly copper-containing waste liquid. In the future, it will also benefit companies that recycle customer wastewater and recover valuable metal products from it.
Because, for investors looking for growth opportunities,The water industry is certainly an area worth watching.
Especially now, there is an urgent need to repair and upgrade the country's water infrastructure. Looking at the global market, using ETFs should be the most convenient channel. Currently, 6 themed ETFs focusing on water resources are listed in the US.
$Invesco Water Resources ETF(PHO)$ , $Tortoise Global Water ESG Fund(TBLU)$ , $First Trust Water ETF(FIW)$ , $Invesco Global Water ETF(PIO)$ , $Invesco S&P Global Water Index ETF(CGW)$ , $Global X Clean Water ETF(AQWA)$
The largest of these is the $Invesco Water Resources ETF(PHO)$ . The fund tracks the $iShares S&P Global Water Index ETF(CMOXF)$ and invests in a range of companies in the water industry. The ETF has recorded an increase of 12% this year.
This ETF's holdings include: $Ferguson Plc.(FERG)$, Water Sanitation and Infection Prevention Solution Provider $Ecolab(ECL)$ ; One of the world's largest water companies and the largest private water company in the United States $American Water(AWK)$ ; The world's largest provider of water supply and sewage treatment solutions $Xylem(XYL)$ wait for water resources companies.
Source from Tiger Trade
In addition to this, there are also a large number of companies related to water resources in the US stock market.
$American Water(AWK)$ , $Essential Utilities, Inc.(WTRG)$ , $Sabesp(SBS)$ , $California Water Service(CWT)$ , $American States Water(AWR)$ , $Middlesex Water(MSEX)$ , $York Water(YORW)$, $Aris Water Solutions, Inc.(ARIS)$ , $Consolidated Water(CWCO)$ , $Artesian Resources(ARTNA)$ $Global Water Resources(GWRS)$ $Pure Cycle(PCYO)$ and $Cadiz(CDZI)$ .
Do you think water resources will be the next major trading line for AI?
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