You do not need to outspend Big Tech. You do not need to build a frontier model. And you do not need a billion-dollar infrastructure budget. Your advantage is proximity. You are closer to your customers. #67

The TopCat AI Signal Report #67The big technology companies are also revealing a deeper reality.The AI race is expensive.Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon have committed nearly 2.4 trillion dollars in AI infrastructure spending, according to one recent analysis. That is a reminder that the largest players are building the physical foundation for the next wave of AI.[substack]But infrastructure alone does not create leadership.Data centers do not create trust.Compute does not create accountability.And a powerful model does not automatically create a useful customer experience.Leadership is what turns capacity into value.That is why today’s signal is not simply about who spends the most.It is about who can connect their AI investment to:• a real customer problem,• a clear business workflow,• measurable outcomes,• and a trustworthy operating model.The companies that cannot make that connection may still have impressive technology.But they will struggle to build durable confidence.