Editorial companion

What stands out

John Chambers, who led Cisco through the dot‑com boom and bust, warns that AI will produce major shakeouts while saying he would not bet against Nvidia or Oracle, and that the winners and losers will be separated by balance-sheet strength not just hype. He frames the coming fallout as the part that makes stock picking valuable again, and names a non-AI trade he prefers, which shifts the conversation from pure AI enthusiasm to balance-sheet and capital-allocation judgment.