Sovereign wealth funds, particularly in the Middle East, view AI as a 30-50 year societal transformation, not just a short-term investment. Their deep pockets and long-term strategic commitment mean they would likely step in to buy key chip stocks like NVIDIA at a discount during a market correction, effectively creating a floor under the market.

A key, often overlooked factor in Saudi Arabia's transformation is the return of its citizens educated at top Western universities like Stanford and MIT. This repatriated talent pool, driven by a sense of duty and opportunity, forms the skilled workforce needed to build the nation's digital future.

The term 'private equity' is now insufficient. The M&A market's capital base has expanded to include sovereign wealth funds and large, tech-generated family offices that invest directly or co-invest like traditional PE firms. This diversification creates a larger, more resilient pool of capital for deals.

For the past five years, the top-performing shows on major streaming platforms have been adaptations of video game IP, such as 'The Last of Us', 'Fallout', and 'The Witcher'. This demonstrates a significant cultural shift where gaming franchises are now the dominant source of new, blockbuster entertainment content.

Beyond the US and China, Saudi Arabia is positioned to become the third-largest AI infrastructure country. The national strategy leverages its abundance of land and power not just for oil exports, but to lead the world in "energy exports via tokens," effectively selling compute power globally.

Despite geopolitical risk and economic uncertainty, M&A is surging because companies are executing on long-term (20-30 year) strategic repositioning plans conceived post-COVID. When capital markets open, even briefly, companies are quick to act on these dormant, high-conviction plans, ignoring near-term volatility.

Similar to the early internet, the time users spend on video games far outweighs the advertising dollars captured by the industry. This gap indicates a huge, untapped monetization opportunity where ad spend will eventually calibrate to match user attention, especially among young male demographics.

The success of events like the Daft Punk concert in Fortnite signals a strategic shift. IP holders will launch new brands within games first to build community, then expand to movies or TV. Games are now viewed as the most influential social platforms, not just secondary marketing channels.

Regional stability is an economic necessity for oil-rich nations. Peace allows them to accelerate monetization of their finite oil reserves and reinvest the capital into diversified, future-proof economies like AI and tourism before alternative energy devalues their primary asset.