How 'deeply intertwined' are energy companies in this stage of the AI build-out?

Previously we were talking about all the tech companies that were generating so much free cash flow and just, you know, it it was gushing. Now, it's the energy companies. So when you take a step back and say, where who's generating all this money and they could and and all these energy companies too are talking about investments in AI to actually help streamline their vertical integrations,

help them uh with new discoveries. So it's it's pretty interesting because energy is actually benefiting from AI, they're benefiting from higher um oil prices and it's interesting because, you know, we've had the government say that there's actually more oil coming out of the Strait of Hormuz or near the same amounts than before, but oil hasn't come down. So

you know, as a diversified investor, you know, energy is a great place. Um, so names that that we have in the index are, you know, EQT, we've got uh Schlumberger.

Great CEO by the way.

What?

EQT, great CEO by the way. No salary.

Yeah, great and they just did a transaction buying Grange resources. so that's a natural gas play. You've got LNG, you've got, you know, SLB, uh so Chevron, you've got Exxon and so these are, you know, really big companies that know how to manage the space. talk about you know, we talk about AI investing cycles. These are management teams and companies that have been around through all the investment cycles when oil's gone exactly like this. So,

Right.

um I think energy is not a place to hide out in. I think it's a a place to be proud of and you know, show your wave your energy flag and let everybody know you're a big investor in it because if we are going to have AI, you know what AI needs? Lots and lots of energy.

I think on the on the early stage side of things, you know, early stage companies are uh not as susceptible to day-to-day movements in energy prices, but where we are seeing opportunity is a lot of these companies, you know, distributors and and others in industrial spaces that need to start using AI in really smart ways because their costs have become pressures on the business.

And so we're looking at investing in companies that are using AI to improve the supply chain and improve their processes and uh pricing and other areas because they need to offset some of these rising costs. So, we're we're absolutely seeing opportunity in the early stage side of things.

these are not these are not disconnected energy and AI. Like I I I think these things are deeply intertwined right now and energy is for certain one of the biggest rate limiters. I would think probably policy and regulatory and then energy sits even above certain components in the stack right now. And that's why it's such a premium right now, right?