Our 2026 Predictions

Below are my Top 10 Predictions for 2026. We also thought it'd be fund to share the Top 5 Predictions for 2026 from Bryce Smith (you guys know who Bryce is), Craig Delaune (our most recent hire, an analyst) and Teguh Maulim (who helps us run TradingWithCody.com and does some analysis for us too). So read on and let us know how much you disagree (or agree, I suppose) with any of these predictions. 

Cody's Predictions

1) Gold, silver, bitcoin and other "stores of value" have a terrible year as earnings and margin growth in the real economy will accelerate so strongly that people seek out cash generating businesses instead of "stores of value" assets. Most asset classes around the world, including these "store of value" assets are at or near-all time highs and are probably crowded trades at this point. The relentless drive to devalue every fiat currency is, as always, a tailwind over the long-term for these assets, but I'm not so sure gold or silver or bitcoin are going to be great investments over the next four quarters. 

2) China's economy continues to struggle, the Chinese consumer continues to pull back while the China government tries to pull all kinds of levers to stimulate the economy and the consumer but nothing works. Stocks in China end up down on the year in 2026. 

3) The dollar has a strong year in 2026 on the back of US GDP growth and productivity gains which helps feed into the stablecoin virtuous cycle for the US dollar and the USDC. This is one of the reasons we own Circle (CRCL). 

4) Electricity prices don't go up. The hype around the need for more electricity generation and grid improvement has probably already peaked. Electricity prices will continue to slowly climb in years ahead, but it won't be a shock to the energy or economic systems as more capacity is brought online slowly but surely. 

5) Optical networking becomes the most hyped part of The AI Revolution. Fiber optic connections between memory and inference chips are more economically and energy efficient than trying to jam endlessly more high end memory chips on each AI chip. Nvidia and Google (GOOG) and others will benefit from this trend over time and we are hard at work finding pureplays set to benefit from this new trend. 

6) Oil stocks outperform electricity stocks, oil outperform electricity prices. Oil spends most of the year priced in the $70s and $80s, up for the mid $50s right now. 

7) Space stocks peak a month before the SpaceX IPO and spend the next two years in a bear market. SpaceX will be fine. 

8) Inflation heads toward 2% and people start wondering if deflation is a threat to the economy. Interest rates head towards zero. ZIRP becomes one of the most quotable words on business TV. 

9) Unemployment rates go towards 5.5% by the summer but are back under 4.5% by the end of the year. In years ahead, instead of displacing human jobs and creating mass unemployment, AI and robots create mass negative unemployment in ten years. (That is, everybody who wants a job has one and even people who don't need or want to work will be pulled into the labor markets as the economy and demand explode in years ahead. In years ahead, humans become the bottleneck. The limiting factor for growth isn’t Capital, Compute, Energy. Human employees are. More on that to come in future write ups.) 

10) The biggest, most valuable tech companies on the planet become even bigger and more valuable in 2026, increasing their share of the economy and their share of the stock market. We've basically got a dozen or so near monopolistic tech companies that are positioned to become near monopolistic AI and Robotics companies in the years ahead. The fundamental growth at these companies will continue to outpace most of the other 488 companies in the S&P 500 and pundits will complain even louder about what a big percentage of the stock market these companies account for. 

Perhaps the most important point to make in this article today is that none of these predictions, right or wrong, probably matter very much long-term, at least not in the context of Revolution Investing. That is to say that if we're right about The AI, Robotics and Space Revolutions creating more wealth in the next 25 years than was created in all of humankind existence then it won't matter in ten years whether or not 10-year Treasury interest rates end 2026 at 2% or 4.5% or whether or not Republicans or Democrats win the next election or even whether or not Nvidia is under-owned right now. If we're right, the global and galactic economies will create tens of trillions of dollars of new wealth for Revolution Investors over the next decade at an ever-accelerating pace. 

Bryce's Predictions

1. We see the first 100,000 humanoid robots enter commercial use. Most will be in factories (probably the vast majority of the 100k are Tesla Optimi working in Tesla factories).
   1. Sub-predictions:
      1. The first humanoid robotics pure-play company comes public (most likely Unitree in China or Figure.AI in the US) at a $50+ billion valuation.
      2. We see the first robot-only bar or restaurant (still humans in the loop, but most of the customer-facing roles will be held by humanoids).
      3. Excitement for The Robotics Revolution reaches new heights accordingly, probably some great short candidates riding hype arrive on the scene.
2. Starlink voice service (direct-to-cell (DTC)) becomes generally available to U.S. customers, putting pressure on the Big 3 U.S. telecom providers (note that texting is already available via the SpaceX/T-Mobile partnership).
   1. Sub-predictions:
      1. The Big 3 (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) subsidize the Starlink DTC service to prevent subscribers from leaving their network.
      2. SpaceX has at least 10 million DTC subscribers by the end of the year.
3. We see the first single-person AI unicorn (a startup with at least a $1 billion valuation).
   1. Sub-prediction:
      1. Some 25 year old kid builds the first mind-blowing consumer AI app not named ChatGPT and raises at least $50 million from VCs at a $1 billion valuation.
4. Nvidia hits a $7 trillion market cap.
   1. Sub-predictions:
      1. The first Blackwell-trained AI models shock the world with a step change in intelligence and capabilities compared to current models, putting an end to many of the current debates about the usefulness of AI and the durability of Nvidia’s business model.
      2. OpenAI/Anthropic/xAI IPOs reignite the AI animal spirits, driving Nvidia to new heights as managers chase Nvidia as the “safe” play on AI development.
      3. Nvidia announces they have visibility to $1 trillion in revenue over the next two years.
5. Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) stages a massive comeback as AI integrations make personal devices like AI Glasses incredibly more useful and consumer-friendly.
   1. Sub-predictions:
      1. Meta crosses 15 million cumulative pairs of AI glasses shipped, and launches two new versions of its Display AR glasses. Meta also launches the Meta App Store for AI glasses.
      2. A new AR/VR video game or social media app goes viral late in the year and hits 10 million monthly active users before Christmas.
      3. Qualcomm hits $250 per share as the company raises 2027 guidance on the back of extremely strong demand for AR/VR devices (bonus prediction: Apple and Qualcomm announce a 2-year extension of their partnership (currently set to expire in 2027).

BONUS: A massive AI-powered cyberattack hits Microsoft and cripples all Microsoft services for two days. Microsoft pays $100 million in bitcoin or other crypto to some hacker group to end the attack.

Extra BONUS: Stablecoins go mainstream across traditional financial institutions and hit $1 trillion in cumulative market cap.

Craig Delaune's Predictions

1. 2026 is where OpenAI finally puts the revenue argument to bed, and it does that through OpenAI  giving the people the chat bot they want.   Next year, the AI companion will be redefined with ChatGPT 6.0, resulting in an ever-present assistant with improved speech recognition, more nuanced conversational abilities, and memory that persists across time and modalities. The lines between human and AI interaction will begin to blur as we grow more comfortable with its presence in our day to day lives. As that comfort grows, I think we see a push toward advertising in ChatGPT - akin to letting off the clutch and pressing on the gas. With the goal of going public, OpenAI will project advertising revenue, which will be met with a collective sigh of relief from bulls, followed by an extremely high stock price that further reinforces its already extraordinary valuation.
2. We met agents in 2025, but they only began to crawl. In 2026, they'll start running the 40-yard dash. While agents from Anthropic and Salesforce are already being deployed inside large enterprises, next year the average person begins using agents in their day-to-day life. From ordering a pizza to pulling data for a quarterly review, agent capabilities will expand dramatically by the end of 2026. Soon you'll be able to have your morning work routines finished, groceries ordered, and a summer trip to Paris planned all before you sit down with your coffee.
3. We see the emergence of mainstream AI "Child" Stars on platforms like Disney and Nickelodeon. Instead of combing malls for talent, big production companies will replace child stars with AI "Child" Stars who never age, never burn out, never get involved in scandals, can be used in infinite amounts of content, and don't ask for payment. It will be sold to parents as the ultimate role model, and its "image" will be tightly controlled across the internet. I think some parents will be weirded out that the AI is not a real human being, but most will come around as the content will be wholesome, fun, and all the rage at schools.
4. Demand for compute doesn't ease up, in part because of The Robotics Revolution. Spacial AI will be all the rage next year as robotics companies compete to be the first to have a commercially viable, fully AI driven humanoid out by early 2027. Spacial AI won't just be used to train the robots, but their "brains" will be able to predict consequences of movement by running thousands of mini simulations before taking any action. For example, think of a kid in Minnesota hesitating before skating on a frozen lake in March after hearing the ice crack beneath his feet.  A robot will do something similar, visually assessing the ice, factoring in temperature and thickness, and simulating what happens if it steps forward. This is the robotic equivalent of how humans feel risk before jumping a ditch or climbing a tree. The Robotics Revolution will drive an unprecedented volume of computation, sustaining demand for compute through the end of the decade and accelerating innovation in the data center space. 
5. Having grown up as a gamer and still dabbling on my PC from time to time, I had to include one prediction about the gaming industry. Next year, I think we see the first major gaming title built entirely with AI from the ground up. Assets, story, environments, and voice lines will all be AI-generated and dynamically updated as you play. Instead of being constrained by pre-recorded dialogue and rigid choice trees, AI will deliver a unique narrative to each player based on their decisions. The reaction will be polarizing. Some critics will push back hard against the use of AI, while others will see it as the natural next evolution of gaming. Regardless, major studios with large licensed franchises (Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc.) will look for any opportunity to increase margins while reducing the cost and risk inherent in this hit-driven industry. At the same time, small creators will be able to build experiences in an afternoon that would be unimaginable today. The result will be an embarrassment of riches in gaming content, and ideally, that abundance translates into lower prices, better experiences, and a happier end user.

Teguh Mualim's Predictions

1. Workforce Transformation and New Job Creation
The job landscape is shifting. Traditional roles like copywriting, design, and programming were heavily impacted in 2024–2025, surprising many employees. But jobs aren’t disappearing, they’re evolving. For example, web development didn’t vanish with the rise of platforms like WordPress and Shopify; developers simply transitioned into WordPress or Shopify specialists. By 2026, both employees and HR teams are moving beyond the initial shock and beyond merely using tools like ChatGPT, unlocking opportunities in entirely new areas where human creativity, judgment, and execution remain essential.

2. Immersive Experiences Become Standard
AI will make experiences more visual, interactive, and intuitive. From shopping and entertainment to customer service and healthcare, people will increasingly engage with realistic simulations. Previewing a home renovation or visualizing a medical procedure before it begins, moving far beyond text-based interactions and imagination alone.

3. AI-Driven Optimization Boosts the U.S. Economy
AI will make previously expensive services like chauffeurs, home helpers, and factory workers, accessible again through robotics and autonomous systems. While labor-cost-sensitive countries may face competitive pressure, these AI-driven efficiencies will create new opportunities and advantages for the U.S. economy. For example, an AI-based customer service agent could cost less than hiring a customer service staff in the Philippines.

4. Continued Growth in Infrastructure Demand
The rise of AI will drive sustained demand for data centers, chips, electricity, and cloud services. Companies in these sectors will thrive, sparking a renaissance for skilled blue-collar and technical roles that support this expanding infrastructure.

5. Policy, Ethics, and Regulatory Focus Intensifies
As AI becomes more pervasive, governments and organizations will increasingly address copyright, misinformation, deepfakes, and other ethical concerns. Policy discussions and regulatory frameworks will play a critical role in shaping how AI is deployed responsibly across industries.

We'll skip the Live Q&A Chat this week given it's NYE. We'll end with this old picture of Cody from high school in a dunk contest, most likely 2026 will be a dunk contest for Revolution investors as well: