**[Institution: AI Industry Revenue Has Reached a Critical Threshold, Hundreds of Billions in AI Investments Begin to Yield Commercial Returns]** BlockBeats News, July 20 — According to a report released by the research institution Exponential View, revenue in the artificial intelligence (AI) industry has reached a critical threshold, indicating that the business models of technology companies investing hundreds of billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in recent years are beginning to show initial validation. The report's data reveals that AI-related sales revenue from global hyperscale cloud service providers and emerging cloud service providers has reached approximately $25 billion, surpassing for the second consecutive quarter the estimated depreciation costs associated with investments in AI data centers and chips, which stand at around $21 billion. This milestone signifies that revenue generated by the AI industry has started to offset the cost pressures from capital investments in infrastructure, marking a transition for the AI economy from a phase of expansion driven purely by capital expenditure to a phase of revenue validation. Exponential View stated that current AI revenue primarily comes from areas such as AI cloud services, GPU computing power rentals, large model APIs, enterprise AI software, and generative AI applications. As enterprise clients continue to increase their AI spending, the pace of AI commercialization is accelerating. However, the report also pointed out that the AI industry is still far from entering a high-profit phase. Due to high costs associated with GPUs, data centers, electricity, and model development, profit margins in the industry remain limited. Current revenue is more focused on validating the sustainability of infrastructure investments rather than achieving large-scale profitability. The next stage of core competition in the AI industry will shift from "whether there is real demand" to "which companies can achieve scalable profitability amidst fierce competition." As model capabilities improve and costs decrease, the price of AI services may further decline, requiring companies to enhance profit margins through more efficient application scenarios and business models.