Thought Leadership

Last week, Dow Jones gained 2.5%, and hit a record high 50,000 Friday, S&P 500 was down 0.1%, Nasdaq composite fell 1.8%. Software stocks are facing a brutal reckoning as short sellers pocketed US$24 billion in paper gains this year, betting on AI-driven disruption of traditional SaaS models. The rout intensified following Anthropic’s release of Claude Opus 4.6, which specifically targets legal and financial workflows, sending shares of Snowflake, Salesforce, and S&P Global tumbling. The “AI arms race” reached an unprecedented scale, with Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft forecasting a combined US$650 billion in 2026 capital expenditures. Amazon (US$200 billion) and Alphabet (US$180 billion) are leading this surge. Oracle is seeking up to US$50 billion in fresh funding to build data centers for clients like OpenAI and xAI. SpaceX consolidated acquiried xAI for US$250 billion, valuing SpaceX at US$1 trillion, and filing for 1 million satellites to host orbital data centers. While AWS CEO Matt Garman expressed skepticism regarding the near-term viability of space-based compute. Waymo raised $16 billion at a $126 billion valuation. Nvidia is delaying its new gaming GPU release to prioritize AI-grade memory. Cerebras raised US$1 billion following a massive US$10 billion compute deal with OpenAI. Uber is aggressively expanding its robotaxi footprint to Hong Kong and Madrid following a 20% revenue jump. In Canada, the federal government signaled a strategic shift by backing the new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank to support industrial scale-up and supply-chain stability. BeWhere launched a $4 million offering for European expansion. Sophic client, Plurilock announced $1.19 million in cybersecurity renewals, deepening its integration into high-stakes national security and enterprise “Insider Risk” programs.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.4%, S&P 500 rose 0.3%, Nasdaq composite fell .2%. Markets had a mixed week, fading mid-week highs. With a few MAG 7 companies reporting Q4, “big tech” remains a story of massive AI capex. Meta forecasted a 73% jump in 2026 capex to US$135 billion. Microsoft’s revenue backlog hit US$625 billion, fueled by a US$281 billion commitment from OpenAI. OpenAI is reportedly eyeing a Q4 IPO to beat Anthropic to market, even as Anthropic scales toward US$18 billion in 2026 revenue. High training (US$12 billion) and inference (US$7 billion) costs have pushed Anthropic’s cash-flow-positive target to 2028. Apple signaled its AI ambitions by acquiring “silent communication” startup Q.ai for ~US$2 billion, following a holiday quarter where iPhone 17 sales drove a 23% revenue jump. SpaceX recorded a US$8 billion profit in 2025 and is reportedly weighing a merger with Tesla or xAI to consolidate assets ahead of a potential US$50 billion IPO. Tesla margins remain under pressure, with net income falling 61% amid a US$2 billion reinvestment into xAI. Fidelity announced its “Fidelity Digital Dollar” (FIDD) to capture the institutional stablecoin market. In Canada, after a four-year new issue drought and high delisting volumes, bankers signal a robust go public pipeline in tech and natural resources. Waabi raised US$1 billion for autonomous trucking and robotaxis. Calian launched a $100 million platform to bolster domestic defence SMBs. Sophic client Legend Power Systems reported Q4 (Sept) Fiscal 2025, which highlighted SmartGATE traction, currently engaged in active sales cycles for 196 buildings in the Commercial Real Estate space. The Company recently closed a Private Placement, raising Gross Proceeds of ~$1.6 million.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.5%, S&P 500 was down 0.35%, Nasdaq composite lost 0.1%. Stocks bounced back from lows in a very volatile week. Next week, earnings from Microsoft, Meta, Apple will provide investors insight on where we are in the AI trade. Defense, and AI infrastructure remain the clear winners, for now. Thoma Bravo signaled PE appetite to buy quality software assets amidst the ongoing software valuation reset. The defense sector saw its largest IPO ever with Prague-based Czechoslovak Group (CSG) debuting at a €25 billion valuation. BitGo led the crypto sector’s return to public markets, with its stock opening up 25% on its NYSE debut. OpenAI is reportedly seeking US$50 billion at a valuation nearing US$830 billion, even as OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar notes that revenue—now hitting US$20 billion—is scaling 1:1 with compute consumption. Anthropic reportedly trimmed 2025 gross margin expectations as inference costs came in higher than forecast, underscoring that “AI is a COGS story” as much as a product story. Apple is reportedly developing an AI wearable pin for 2027, and pivoting Siri toward a Google Gemini-backed chatbot. Tesla launched limited unsupervised robotaxi rides in Austin. Blue Origin is targeting the enterprise satellite market with TeraWave, aiming for 6 Tbps speeds by 2027. In Canada, the “sovereign capability” trend is gaining massive traction. General Fusion is set to become the first publicly traded pure-play fusion company via a US$1 billion SPAC deal. Dominion Dynamics secured $21 million to build a Canadian “defence neoprime”. Shopify signaled a shift in commerce, integrating native checkouts into ChatGPT and Gemini, with OpenAI taking a 4% cut of merchant sales. Sophic client, Boardwalktech launched its “Verity” platform, leveraging agentic AI to automate complex financial controls for top-tier banks.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.3%, S&P 500 lost 0.4%, and Nasdaq composite declined 0.7%. Chips and small cap stocks did well, while software seems to be out of favor. Risk-on narratives continue to cluster around defence and sovereign capability buildouts, AI infrastructure and specialized compute, and policy-backed industrial capacity in critical materials and semiconductors. Crypto custodian BitGo is eyeing up to US$1.96 billion valuation in its IPO. Chipmaker Cerebras is in talks to raise US$1 billion at a US$22 billion valuation, while also signing a large multi-year compute supply arrangement with OpenAI. OpenAI will acquire healthcare app, Torch in a US$100 million deal. TSMC guided to record 2026 capex as demand outstrips advanced-node capacity, which was positive for the AI Semi trade. AWS has secured a copper supply arrangement with Rio Tinto. Meta said the company has created a new “top-level” effort called Meta Compute to oversee the construction and long term planning for the company’s data center needs. The Pentagon outlined a US$1 billion investment structure to expand rocket motor capacity at L3Harris. Apple will reportedly partner with Google to overhaul Siri. Google will provide “personalized” Gemini integrations. Anthropic unveiled new healthcare features for Claude. OpenAI will start testing ads, and intro a US$8 per month ChatGPT subscription. In Canada, Sophic client Kraken Robotics reported $35 million of SeaPower™ battery sales to three customers, highlighting rising momentum in unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) power systems and Kraken’s ability to scale production. Boardwalktech expanded and extended a joint engagement (with a global IT services partner) supporting a top-five U.S. bank, adding over US$250k of 2026 value. Juno Industries launched with former defence minister Harjit Sajjan as executive chairman and disclosed a $3 million seed round aimed at dual-use autonomous systems. Canada Rocket Company emerged from stealth with a $6.2 million seed round to pursue sovereign launch capability.

Last week, Dow Jones rose 2.3%, S&P 500 was up 1.6%, and Nasdaq composite gained 1.9%. As markets showed broad advances last week, risk appetite in technology and innovation themes remained constructive led by AI infrastructure, quantum, defense-adjacent procurement, and ongoing IPO/funding momentum. News chatter pointed to potential landmark listings for SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic, while Discord filed confidentially for an IPO. Anthropic is reportedly discussing a US$10 billion raise at ~US$350 billion valuation, and xAI announced a US$20 billion raise at a stated US$230 billion valuation. CrowdStrike agreed to acquire identity-security startup SGNL for ~US$740 million. MSCI opted to keep crypto-holding equities in indexes for now (with broader consultation to follow). Samsung flagged rising memory costs amid AI-driven HBM demand. Nvidia unveiled more details on its “Rubin” chip and open-sourced a new autonomous driving model family. Boston Dynamics presented a production-ready Atlas. Microsoft added in-chat checkout to Copilot. JPMorgan is set to take over Apple’s credit card program from Goldman Sachs. Prediction markets expanded further into geopolitics and housing-price contracts. In Canada, Sophic client Cybeats closed a shares-for-debt settlement, $1.2 million of secured debenture obligations were settled via 10.0 million shares issued at a deemed $0.12, subject to a four-month-and-one-day hold. The transaction was treated as a related-party transaction. MDA Space announced an IDIQ contract with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency under the SHIELD program, shares reacted positively to the headline. Vancouver-based Photonic raised $180 million in a first close (now $375 million total raised) as it targets enterprise commercialization of networked quantum computing. D-Wave announced a US$550 million agreement to acquire Quantum Circuits (US$300 million stock, US$250 million cash), aiming to combine gate-model capabilities with D-Wave’s quantum annealing footprint.

Last week, Dow Jones fell 0.7%, S&P 500 was flattish moving up 0.1%, Nasdaq composite gained 0.5%. The end of the week was markedly more bullish for tech stocks. SpaceX discussed potential IPO planning. Cerebras is reportedly preparing to re-file its IPO targeting Q2 2026. OpenAI is in early talks around a ~US$750 billion valuation, and potentially massive funding round. Databricks raised US$4 billion+ at a ~US$134 billion valuation. ByteDance outlined a U.S. TikTok JV framework. ServiceNow is reportedly exploring buying Armis for ~US$7 billion. Coursera agreed to buy Udemy for ~US$950 million in stock. Salesforce is set to acquire Qualified. Oracle’s data-center financing optics mixed with disclosures of substantial forward lease commitments led to some tech volatility in the first half of the week. However, Micron’s latest earnings report provided upside for AI-memory demand. Tesla stock jumped after Elon Musk says it’s testing driverless robotaxis. iRobot, the maker of Roomba filed for bankruptcy filing. Nasdaq seeks to extend trading hours, as Wall Street gears up for a 24/7 move. A major U.S. defense authorization bill will emphasize faster procurement and commercialization pathways. In Canada, BDC unveiled a $4 billion defence technology platform (including $500 million across VC streams). Scale AI has revealed nearly $129 million in fresh financing across 44 new Canadian applied AI projects in what it claims is its largest group of commitments to date. In news pertaining to Sophic Clients, Legend Power launched a LIFE-exempt, non-brokered financing for gross proceeds of ~ $1.3 to $1.7 million. Intermap won a Malaysia DEM/data-services award tied to national flood forecasting, while Indonesia’s World Bank-funded ILASPP Phase 2 decision was pushed two weeks. Intermap withdrew 2025 guidance and introduced initial 2026 guidance of $30–$35 million revenue and 28% EBITDA margin, reflecting milestone timing shifts typical of government procurement. Plurilock signed a two-year ~$2.45 million licensing deal (via a partner) with a Nasdaq-listed semiconductor manufacturer.