Observations from the IMC Research Process - The next AI bottlenecks are emerging in the physical manufacturing stack required to build and connect increasingly complex chips.
Rising Tides
Rising Tides: AI Security – Fighting Fire With Fire
Observations from the IMC Research Process - AI is accelerating demand for security software.
Rising Tides: “Wait, Is This a Person?” AI agents are talking, and communication platforms are cashing in
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Communication platforms are becoming the essential connective tissue for the AI economy, where value accrues through workflow ownership, integration depth, and increasing automation.
Rising Tides: Warning: Low Battery
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Lithium is entering a battery demand-driven acceleration that is set to throw the market into a deficit.
Rising Tides: Orbiting Cash Flows – Earnings, Spectrum and Demand Align for Space Stocks
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Defense dollars are locking in demand, AI is pulling forward the next wave, and scarce spectrum is being repriced as critical infrastructure.
Rising Tides: CDNs are Capitalizing on AI-Driven Internet Traffic
Observations from the IMC Research Process - A tidal wave of AI-driven traffic is creating a new, highly profitable demand cycle for the internet's foundational infrastructure.
Rising Tides: Korea’s Robot Renaissance
Observations from the IMC Research Process - What began as incremental automation has become a coordinated national push, driven by rapid population aging, structural labor shortages, and explicit government support for AI-enabled robotics.
Rising Tides: The Memory Trade Reloaded
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Since October when we last highlighted the memory theme, its role in AI infrastructure has become increasingly more important. Memory is now foundational as AI systems scale beyond training into real-world deployment.
Rising Tides: Treasure Mode – A New Era for Value Retailers
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Brick-and-mortar value chains have become cultural and economic winners as consumers - especially Gen Z - elevate ‘smart money shopping’ into a lifestyle.
Rising Tides: Data is the New Medicine
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Diagnostics are entering a technology-driven acceleration that will reshape healthcare economics.
Rising Tides: Biotech Repriced
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Biotech's risk premium is collapsing — clinical momentum, pricing clarity, resurgent deal flow are driving a sustained rerating across the sector.
Rising Tides: Gridlock Ahead – Batteries Take the Wheel in the AI Era
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Global battery capacity is set to jump 67% this year to 617GWh — and grow tenfold by 2035. The driver isn’t EVs anymore — it’s AI’s appetite for power.
Rising Tides: Total Recall – Memory Becomes the AI Trade
Observations from the IMC Research Process - With cloud giants racing to expand data center footprints to support AI workloads, tight supply is creating the first multi-year upcycle in storage in decades.
Rising Tides: Humanoids – From Iron Man to Every Man
Observations from the IMC Research Process - After transforming the digital world, AI is now stepping into the physical one through humanoid robotics.
Rising Tides: AI’s New Power Brokers – Bitcoin Miners Rewire for the Future
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Yesterday’s crypto miners are tomorrow’s AI landlords. Billions in deals this year are behind crypto facilities pivoting to support power-hungry hyperscalers.
Rising Tides: We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat – Cruise demand is cruising at record speed
Observations from the IMC Research Process - 2025 cruise bookings are outpacing pre-pandemic levels, with pricing holding strong even as capacity expands.
Rising Tides: From Obscure to Critical – Rare Earths Enter a Supercycle
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Prices of rare earth elements (REEs) – a group of 17 obscure metals used in everything from EV’s, wind turbines, national defense systems, and consumer electronics - are suddenly acting like oil in the 1970’s. Geopolitically charged, price-spiking, and strategically indispensable.
Rising Tides: The Year’s Unlikeliest Rally
Observations from the IMC Research Process - In a year defined by trillion-dollar AI narratives, it’s a 150-year-old German lender that’s quietly up over 100%. In this Rising Tide, we cover why European banks have gone from serial underperformers to market leaders.
Rising Tides: AI’s Cooling Crisis
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Global cooling specialists are stepping up to keep the AI boom from overheating - literally. The next generation of winners may not be chipmakers, but the companies keeping them from melting down.
Rising Tides: Stablecoins Are Eating Finance
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Stablecoins have gone from a niche crypto tool to a $250B market, threatening a revolution in payments and traditional finance infrastructure.
Rising Tides: Kidults
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Adults are the fastest growing demographic for the $100B+ global toy market - fueling the blind-box craze and reshaping the global toy and collectibles market.
Rising Tides: War Time Rally
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Despite an active war and regional instability, Israeli equities are making new all-time highs, Israeli GDP is booming, and investors are piling in.
Rising Tides: Repricing the Korean Discount
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Post-election optimism is igniting a broad-based rally in Korean equities, raising hopes of a long-awaited market renaissance.
Rising Tides: Drones Are Taking Off
Observations from the IMC Research Process - The global drone market is set to more than double by 2030, surging from $73B to $163B.
Rising Tides: The AI Trade is Gaining Fresh Momentum
Observations from the IMC Research Process - The AI Trade is Gaining Fresh Momentum
Rising Tides: Greek Banks – From Crisis to Capital Return Machines
Observations from the IMC Research Process - A turnaround for Greek banks
Rising Tides: Global Pharma Knocking on China’s Door
Observations from the IMC Research Process - The rise of Chinese pharmaceuticals
Rising Tides: Infrastructure, eh? Canada’s quietly building everything.
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Canada's infrastructure pipeline is moving stocks
Rising Tides: America’s Atomic Moment
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Nuclear stocks heating up
Rising Tides: K-Beauty is Back – and it’s Outselling France
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Korean skincare trends hitting the US
Rising Tides: Gen Z is Building Skills to Pay the Bills
Observations from the IMC Research Process - Momentum in 'skilled-collar' career schools