Expect a drive towards efficiencies in AI in 2026, says Chris Kelly

Market Trends & Industry Dynamics - AI and tech industry consolidation may occur in the new year [1] - There will be a war for talent among the biggest AI players, with potential new entrants [3] - A drive towards efficiency in AI model training is expected, moving away from constant expansion of data centers and GPUs [3] - Open source AI models, particularly from China and the US, will provide basic levels of compute and access [9][10] Investment Opportunities & Potential Risks - Breakthroughs in AI efficiency will lead to the rise of certain players, potentially acquired by larger companies [8] - Some believe there is a bubble around the constant upward spiral of more GPUs, power consumption, and data centers [8] - Major transactions in the large language model space are possible, especially for more efficient players [12] - Anthropic's valuation could potentially reach hundreds of billions of dollars, though this is viewed as unlikely [13] Company Strategy & Financial Performance - Meta is investing extensively in building a larger team focused on AI [6] - Apple has a significant cash hoard and stock to deploy for potential acquisitions in the AI space [11] - Companies with nine-figure (hundreds of millions) to twelve-figure (trillions) valuations are considering operating independently [13] - The resource intensity of operating AI models can be a cash drain [14]