Q2 confirmed that the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is entering a new phase in the physical world. As the industry evolves, attention is being directed to strengthening underlying infrastructure while advancing areas like embodied AI, a subsector that MarketsandMarkets projects will grow at a CAGR of 39 percent globally by 2030. Also during Q2, a geopolitical tech rivalry exacerbated shifting macroeconomic conditions. While the race for compute, energy, hardware and supply chain dominance intensified, talk of tariff policies reigniting inflation or contributing to stagflation created brief periods of contraction. Concerns also grew around AI-driven job displacement, amplified by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s ominous warning that AI could eliminate up to half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years. On a more positive note, the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) and Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) both ended Q2 up by 0.5 percent, closing the first half of 2025 at all-time highs…
