Investor’s Daily poll (12 August 2026)

You have already voted in this poll.

If AI compute really becomes a new infrastructure asset class, what’s the closest historical parallel?

Railways in the 19th century 365 votes (32.3%)
Electricity grids in the 20th century 277 votes (24.5%)
Mobile phone networks in the 1990s 255 votes (22.5%)
Cloud data centres in the 2010s 234 votes (20.7%)

Total votes: 1,131

Answer: Electricity grids in the 20th century

Explanation: Electricity started as a new technology, but the bigger economic transformation came when it became infrastructure. Once grids were built at scale, electricity powered countless businesses, industries and new technologies.

Get ahead of the curve with Investor's Daily

Enter your email to access exclusive insights and stay informed with our Investor's Daily daily email.

Because Investor's Daily is completely free, we do have to fund it with advertising. Occasionally we will send you promotional emails, which will contain advertisements from us. By signing up to our free emails, you are consenting to receive these promotions. However we will never give, sell or rent your email address to any other companies. If you want to stop receiving our free emails at any time, you can immediately unsubscribe by clicking on the link in each email. For more information, please see our privacy policy.