Mirai Sagawa: AI sales surge but costs keep firms in the red

Sagawa's comments come as AI model developers draw intense attention, including the huge listing of SpaceX, which owns xAI, in 2026. She frames the sector's economics as fundamentally different from conventional software, where additional users bring little extra cost. In AI, each user adds demand for chips and data centers, and every query triggers inference costs. On top of that, the competition for skilled researchers forces companies to make high offers, adding to personnel expenses. That combination helps explain why sales are expanding rapidly while many firms remain in the red, a point Sagawa says is often noted.