TEHRAN- The US economy is increasingly driven by two concentrated engines, soaring AI investment and resilient consumer spending, but Bank of America warns this dual-engine setup is uniquely vulnerable to the ongoing Iran war.

The first engine is Big Tech’s capital expenditure. With giants like Amazon and Microsoft planning up to $800 billion in AI infrastructure this year, this spending contributed significantly to Q1 GDP. However, this boom relies on vast amounts of electricity. BofA warns that energy supply bottlenecks from the West Asia conflict could choke this growth. 

The World Economic Forum notes the conflict is disrupting natural gas and industrial materials crucial for semiconductor manufacturing, creating a physical limit on AI expansion.

Simultaneously, the second engine, consumer spending, remains active but is under threat. While spending has held up, UBS Chief Economist Paul Donovan describes this as a "Wile E Coyote" moment: the gravity of high oil prices and inflation hasn't hit yet, but it will soon come "crashing down".

The dual threat is distinct here. Unlike previous crises, the Iran war simultaneously pressures households through inflation while starving AI data centers of the energy needed to keep the growth cycle running, challenging the foundation of the current US expansion.