Investor’s Daily poll (12 August 2026)

Thank you — your vote has been counted.

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

Railways in the 19th century 136 votes (32.6%)
Electricity grids in the 20th century 105 votes (25.2%)
Mobile phone networks in the 1990s 94 votes (22.5%)
Cloud data centres in the 2010s 82 votes (19.7%)

Total votes: 417

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.

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