Here Comes the Boom

As 2026 begins, the United States is on the cusp of an AI‑fueled boom. This is not a typical tech cycle; it touches national security, energy and the real economy. The world is splitting into competing blocs, supply chains are being rerouted, and governments are intervening in markets on a scale not seen in decades. Winning the AI race has become a strategic imperative. Doing so will require massive investment not just in software and data but in power plants, metals and skilled workers. As President John F. Kennedy declared during the 1962 Moon speech, “we choose to go to the Moon … not because they are easy, but because they are hard”; the AI race mirrors that spirit, embracing difficulty to achieve something transformational. This outlook examines those dynamics and concludes with a GRIP update on Growth, Risk Appetite, Inflation and Policy.

 
AI Megatrend in a Deglobalizing World

Trade tensions, pandemics and geopolitical rivalries have exposed the fragility of global supply chains. Nations are moving production closer to home and treating semiconductors, rare earths and advanced manufacturing as national security assets. The United States is pouring public money into chip fabs, battery plants and clean energy through laws such as the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act. Imports from China are falling while imports from Mexico and Canada rise, reflecting this friend‑shoring trend. AI sits at the center of these shifts: controlling its hardware and inputs has become a lever of geopolitical power. As the psychoanalyst Theodor Reik observed, history does not repeat itself, but it rhymes; today’s drive to dominate AI echoes earlier national projects like electrification and the space race, even if the technology is new. 

Genesis Mission: Coordinating Data, Compute and Energy

To cement its AI lead, the White House launched the Genesis Mission in late 2025. This initiative directs federal agencies, national labs, universities and private firms to share computing resources and open vast government datasets for research. By unifying disparate data stores and supercomputers, Genesis aims to accelerate breakthroughs in fields ranging from climate modelling to drug discovery. Equally important, the mission recognizes that AI’s voracious energy appetite is an emerging bottleneck. It calls for an all‑of‑the‑above energy strategy—adding new nuclear, gas and renewable plants—and modernizing the grid so that electricity does not constrain AI progress. Genesis signals that AI, data and energy are inseparable elements of national strategy.