CAI has always been a bit problematic for me because I have difficulties in optimizing the Economy.
I could only win CAI in the first minutes by raiding his (its?) factory. If I failed, I would later lose because of the overwhelming economy CAI manages to get running.
Anyhow, I found this video:
Maybe it will help people getting their economy in order. I immediately beat CAI hands down after watching this.
Very educative. Running a good economy really revolves around asking the question: what do I really need next?