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Everyone's wondering if, and when, the AI bubble will pop. Here's what went down 25 years ago that ultimately burst the dot-com boom
 The comparison between today’s artificial intelligence frenzy and the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s has become impossible to ignore. As AI companies command valuations reaching into the hundreds of billions—minting dozens of new billionaires in 2025 alone—and tech giants pour unprecedented sums into data centers, investors and analysts are asking a similar question: Are we watching history repeat itself?
The similarities are striking. Like the internet companies of two decades ago, AI firms today attract massive investments based on transformative potential rather than current profitability. Global corporate AI investment reached $252.3 billion in 2024, according to research from Stanford University, with the sector growing thirteenfold since 2014. Meanwhile, America’s biggest tech companies—Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft—have pledged to spend a record $320 billion on capital expenditures this year alone, much of it for AI infrastructure.
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