BlackRock's US Equity ETF Head Says Bitcoin's Diversifier Role 'Still Very Much Holds' As AI's Best Bets Move 'Outside Of Tech'

• BlackRock's Head of Equity ETFs Jay Jacobs said AI opportunities increasingly lie beyond traditional tech sectors.

• Materials, utilities and digital infrastructure could benefit from AI's physical buildout.

• Jacobs argued Bitcoin's diversification case remained intact despite growing institutional ownership.

Wall Street may have changed who owns Bitcoin, but it hasn't changed why investors own it, according to BlackRock's (BLK) U.S. Head of Equity ETFs, Jay Jacobs.

Bitcoin's (BTC) role as a portfolio diversifier survived its institutional takeover, and Jacobs said the best opportunities in AI now sit outside the technology sector.

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Speaking on the Anthony Pompliano podcast on Thursday, Jacobs explained that the biggest mismatch in artificial intelligence was that demand compounded, but supply could not. Large language models (LLMs) were "already [writing] code for themselves to improve," he said, and companies were deciding in "days, weeks" how much to spend, but physical inputs moved much more slowly.

New copper supply took years, building a zinc mine for photonics takes years, and "the fabs take about four years," he noted.