The first thing you should know is that the more things change, the more they remain the same. Let’s jump into my predictions for the year; these are not empirical nor backed by science. They are just backed by my intuition.
- NVIDIA will have a big year. My reasoning for this is thus:
- This will be the year where AI finds mass utility, and as a result, demand for NVIDIA will continue to go up
- NVIDIA’s recent acquisitions tell me this is a company that is thinking about the future seriously and trying to go where the future leads. Essentially, I am confident in their leadership to throw up a few more product surprises this year
- Blackwell chips.
- China export restrictions lifted means we see more orders being fulfilled.
- The Groq acquisition means even more smart people are joining Jensen’s team. When smart people combine, great things happen.
- Political Instability. There will be a couple of regime changes this year, some violent, some peaceful. My reasoning:
- There is an increasing assault on democracies globally. In some cases, the people will revolt against this assault, they will win in some cases, and in other cases, they will not, but a ripple effect will have been created.
- Venezuela. End of.
- The Midterms.
- Arsenal Champions. Arsenal Football Club will win two major trophies this year. Why?
- We are the best team in the world.
- It’s about time. We have been patient enough.
- Subscriptions will replace Ads. For the longest time, Ads have been the financial engine powering the modern internet. It will change. Companies will have subscriptions replace Ads in their financial models. Why?
- Growing sense of privacy and a shift towards subscription-led user engagement.
- Ads never really made sense as a predominant form of revenue.
- With AI, users will have more leeway as to the kind of features they want. Only a subscription, in some cases, will give them this customisation option.
- Ads cannot sustain the cost incurred by most companies as they lap up increasing AI infrastructure cost.
- Territory Wars. There will be quite a few tussles for territories across the globe. I cannot predict the outcome of these tussles, but they will happen. Why? Because, like Passenger said, “love comes slow, and it goes so fast.”
There you have it.