Bloomberg Businessweek Cathie Wood Unveils ARK Invest's Big Ideas for 2026
Jan 23, 2026
Cathie Wood, Founder and CEO of ARK Invest, shares her insights on the transformative technologies shaping the global economy. She discusses the significant impact of AI on productivity and forecasts over 7% annual GDP growth by 2030. Wood explores the convergence of five key technology platforms and believes they will unlock new opportunities in jobs, particularly in robotics and digital property. She also highlights deregulation's potential benefits and shares her top investment picks, including Tesla and groundbreaking gene therapies.
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Tax Change Spurs U.S. Capital Investment
- The U.S. tax changes will lower effective corporate tax rates and drive capital investment through full first-year depreciation for equipment, domestic R&D, and software.
- Cathie Wood believes this fiscal shift will boost U.S. returns on invested capital relative to the rest of the world.
AI Means Massive Data Center Buildout
- Data center and power buildouts surged, with last year's data center spending about $500 billion and ARK forecasting $1.4 trillion needed in five years for the AI boom.
- Wood argues that AI-driven investment and depreciation rules will accelerate productivity gains and economic activity.
Five-Platform Tech Revolution
- ARK identifies five converging innovation platforms: robotics, energy storage, AI, blockchain, and multi-omic sequencing, predicting they could drive tech investment to ~12% of GDP.
- Wood forecasts sustained productivity growth of 4–6% and real GDP averaging over 7% per year by decade's end.