Speaker · Updated
Sam Korus: latest market views
ARK Invest
Summary
Sam Korus is Director of Strategy and Investment at ARK Investment Management, which he joined as an analyst in 2015, and he guides research on autonomous technology, robotics, energy storage and space exploration.
Chorus has 7 views from Sam Korus across 4 episodes on ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video) since October 7, 2026. Their latest calls: bullish on Space Exploration Technologies.
Where they stand
Their latest bullish or bearish call on each company.
- Space Exploration TechnologiesBullish ·
What they talk about most
The latest views
Newest first. Every quote is checked against the episode's transcript.
AI spend stops once AI startups can't raise their next round, so revenue quality depends on funding.
Sam cites Chamath's point that perhaps 70 to 80% of AI company revenue comes from other AI companies funded by venture capital. He frames it as a revenue quality problem, not a circular one. He concludes that if AI companies cannot raise the next round, their AI spending stops. He also questions how many two-year-old companies valued at $100 billion can exist.
“Companies, if you can't raise the next up round, then your AI spend stops.”at 19:02
ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video): Ramp's Economist Found Cracks In The AI Thesis | The Brainstorm 156 ·
Model capabilities are advancing faster than even top AI spenders can absorb; very bullish on the technology.
Sam's optimistic read of the spend slowdown is that the underlying models are improving faster than the top 1% of companies can figure out how to spend to keep up. More capability is being released than even leading-edge companies can deploy. He takes this as a reason to be extremely bullish on the technology, not as evidence that the AI thesis is breaking.
“The capability of the models are moving faster than even the 1% of companies... there's more power being released by the technology than even the leading edge companies can figure out how to spend enough to keep up with it. And so all of this makes me extremely bullish on the technology.”at 28:05
ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video): Ramp's Economist Found Cracks In The AI Thesis | The Brainstorm 156 ·
Meta PlatformsNeutral
Regulatory fines on Meta, including $25B, are now seen as a immaterial cost of doing business.
Sam argues that regulators act too late to change Meta's behavior. A $25 billion fine seemed large when it was imposed, but it is now not even a factor, and it is treated as a cost of doing business. He is making this point in response to Meta's harm to teen attention and fertility, which he attributes to Meta while noting the allegations.
“And, you know, it's like down the road, it's like, sure, they get fined $25,000,000,000, which seemed like a lot when they were doing it. But then now it's not even a factor.”at 7:43
ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video): Anthropic’s S-1, Meta’s $90B, And Elon’s Warning Call | The Brainstorm 155 ·
AI infrastructure & data centers
Capital is being misallocated to AI compute builders that cannot connect power.
Sam reads Elon's warning as a signal to debt markets to keep allocating capital to investment-grade borrowers rather than to companies that cannot connect their power. He thinks there is clear misallocation of capital that the entire market does not yet see, and that calling it out is advantageous for SpaceX.
“I think there's a lot of... He sees a lot of misallocation of capital very clearly that I don't think the entire market sees.”at 26:51
ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video): Anthropic’s S-1, Meta’s $90B, And Elon’s Warning Call | The Brainstorm 155 ·
Open-weight models are more likely than closed models to be used for hacking, since bad actors will operate there.
Sam argues that if the world gets hacked, it is more likely to happen through open-weight models than closed ones. His reasoning is that nefarious actors will operate in the open-weight ecosystem, where they can use models without the access controls and monitoring that frontier labs apply. He suggests frontier labs may then sell cybersecurity packages to defend against this.
“if the world is gonna get hacked, it's actually more likely to get hacked by open weight models than closed because, you know, those were... Will be where the nefarious actors will operate.”at 5:15
ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video): Is SpaceX Coming For Your Phone Bill? | The Brainstorm 153 ·
Space Exploration TechnologiesBullish
SpaceX's direct-to-cell offering could reach consumers within about four years, faster than telcos want.
Sam expects SpaceX's direct-to-cell offering to be about four to five years away, and he thinks four years is more realistic. He points to Starship's progress in how quickly SpaceX can get hardware into orbit. This could mean SpaceX knocks on consumers' doors sooner than AT&T, Verizon or T-Mobile would like. AST SpaceMobile is partnering with the telcos, but Sam thinks SpaceX's offering will be fundamentally different.
“I think this is a four year... Four to five year. ... this could be knocking on people's doors faster than AT and T, Verizon, or T Mobile really wants.”at 15:43
ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video): Is SpaceX Coming For Your Phone Bill? | The Brainstorm 153 ·
Space Exploration TechnologiesBullish
SpaceX's reusable-rocket lead is at least a decade long and not being encroached upon.
Sam argues SpaceX's lead in reusable rockets is at least a decade. Competitors are mostly replicating the Falcon 9 approach. Stoke is trying a fully reusable rocket, but it is building a smaller vehicle, so SpaceX's lead is not under threat for now. He also says the enterprise-driven revenue per launch could be steadier and hold at a high price point, while the AI-compute decision (renting versus monetizing it internally) creates fluctuations in revenue per launch.
“So I do think, you know, SpaceX's decade plus lead in reusable is not being encroached upon.”at 20:38
ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video): Starship Reached Orbit. Here's the $1B-Revenue-Per-Launch Math | The Brainstorm 152 ·
Shows
- ARK Invest (FYI podcast, In the Know video) · 4 episodes
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