You’ve probably heard about the white-collar job apocalypse that could hit as agentic AI becomes not only more capable, but more independent. Of course, it’s really hard to tell how much of the workforce automation at the hands of AI is hype and how much is the reality of the situation. Undoubtedly, various fields within the white collar could be at risk, which could make it tough for college students to pick a major and stick with it. Perhaps the trades could be the steadier way to go.
After all, AI can’t plumb quite yet, right?
Though white collar could be the first to be hit as AI comes to the workplace, there’s a chance that blue collar could be next, especially if automation robotics advances faster than anticipated.
Are blue-collar roles safe from the rise of AI?
Of course, physical AI is the next major step, and there are still major mountains to climb before robots become part of the everyday routine. Even if world models advance by leaps and bounds in the coming year, Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE:TSM | SYM Price Prediction) is already booked for the year for 2nm chips, and things are slipping into next year.
Whether it’s chips, power, or other critical pieces of infrastructure that’s in the way of the next lift-off of the AI boom, it will be interesting to see how firms react. Perhaps more firms, like Elon Musk, could get into the semiconductor fab business to get chip production where it needs to be to accelerate the push towards physical AI and robotics.
Either way, just like generative AI and agents can accomplish white-collar tasks, robots can handle physical work. And the future of the warehouse may very well be with robots working around the clock without the lights on (a dark factory, so to speak). This piece will look at two stocks to play the rise of robotics and the potential for blue-collar automation:
Alphabet
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) covers a lot of bases in the AI revolution, from chips (TPUs) to foundation models and even quantum AI computing. In physical AI, Google has Gemini Robotics, which may very well be the foundation model behind the next generation of general-purpose robots. With its vision-language-action model, Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 already impressing in its early stages, I think it’s just a matter of time before shares of Alphabet get off the tarmac.
Add the potential behind Google DeepMind and its collab with Boston Dynamics into the equation and it’s clear that the best way to play physical AI might also be the best all-around AI play today. After a nasty plunge, shares of Alphabet are going for 27.1 times forward price-to-earnings (P/E), which is bordering on absurdly cheap, in my opinion.
What’s most interesting is the AutoRT system that might be key to controlling robot “swarms.” Undoubtedly, it’s a profoundly powerful foundation model that may very well revolutionize the way physical work gets done.
Symbiotic
Symbiotic (NASDAQ:SYM) is a warehouse automation player and trusted Walmart (NYSE:WMT) partner that’s been hit with rampant volatility of late, with shares now down 23% year to date or 43% from all-time highs. Despite the rocky past couple of months, the stock is still up more than double (138%) in the past year. High risk, high volatility, high reward.
With a tough quarterly result in the books and concern about high spending as well as execution risks, there’s concern that Symbiotic might have more room to the downside before a robotics rally ever has a chance to give the S&P a jolt. The Walmart partnership is a major reason to prefer Symbiotic to other speculative robotics companies, but beyond that, Symbiotic might need to do more to convince analysts to upgrade the stock.
Undoubtedly, recent acquisitions may be perceived as “circular” in nature by skeptics, but, in my view, they might be a more cost-effective key to getting the tech to where it needs to be without having to reinvent the wheel. While I wouldn’t want to risk too much on the $30 billion up-and-comer, I do see it as a worthy addition to a watchlist. As far as warehouse automation pure-plays go, Symbiotic is a standout.
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