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Alphabet and Amazon delivered evidence of disciplined integration. Meta and Microsoft faced pushback as capital spending overshadowed clear commercial progress. Tesla struggled with profitability. Large parts of the market have been priced for perfection, yet their execution remains unproven.

I expect 2026 to be defined by this divide. The global economy is entering a phase where investors will stop accepting scale as a substitute for resilience.

They'll increasingly want evidence that investment in AI is strengthening margins, not just expanding infrastructure. They want companies that can show the discipline to slow spending where necessary, rather than chase an arms race without knowing how to monetize it.

Nvidia, of course, sits at the centre of this tension. Its performance sets expectations across the entire technology complex, particularly in Asia where the supply chain runs through memory leaders, foundries and advanced packaging specialists.

SK Hynix, Samsung, TSMC and Foxconn may rally on good news, but no company is immune to the likely broader recalibration. Investors know that even the strongest companies can be exposed when the valuation framework shifts from momentum to evidence.

This shift will intensify as policy under President Donald Trump reshapes global conditions. Export controls are redefining access to advanced computing in China. Supply-chain security is no longer an abstract theme but a guiding force shaping capital allocation.

Companies operating in the strategic core of AI must demonstrate how they intend to manage these constraints. The rhetoric of limitless demand is no longer enough. Investors want detailed answers. They want to know how firms will maintain margins under regulatory pressure and how supply plans will adjust when geopolitics intervene.

The reckoning has already begun to surface in market behavior. Investors have started to challenge the assumption that AI investment automatically produces durable returns.

They're questioning the sustainability of capital cycles that expand faster than adoption curves. They're asking how companies will handle rising input costs from energy, skilled labor and advanced chips. They're looking closely at valuations that imply a future that few firms have fully mapped.

This is why Nvidia's results, despite their strength, do not resolve anything. They illuminate the opportunity but they also heighten the scrutiny.

Investors will dissect the performance of the Blackwell platform, the absorption of Hopper inventory, the progress of sovereign AI deals and the pace of hyperscaler orders. They are no longer satisfied with raw demand numbers. They want visibility on durability.