Three investment opportunities we are excited about

The next wave of thematic investing is taking shape across several parts of the economy at once. Governments are seeking greater control over essential resources and infrastructure. AI is expanding into physical applications, while robotics is opening up new possibilities for automation.

Against this backdrop, three themes stand out in our current investment thinking: defence, AI and robotics. Each offers a different route to structural growth.

Defence and strategic autonomy

The conflict in Ukraine and a shift in US policy sent the European defence sector surging in 2025. Although share price gains have cooled in 2026, the order books have kept filling. Under the EU’s European Defence Industrial Strategy, 50% of defence procurement should come from within Europe by 2030. But building the capacity to do that takes time.

And that is something that shows up in book-to-bill ratios for defence companies. The chart below shows how book-to-bill ratios for European defence companies are very elevated, with a ratio above 1 indicating that order backlogs are on the rise.

Source: Company reports and H1 2026 results presentations, WisdomTree as of 31 August 2026. Please note: Colt, Exosens, Filtronic, Goodwin, Lubawa and Melrose Industries are not included in the chart owing to lack of data for the book-to-bill ratio. Historical performance is not an indication of future results and any investments may go down in value.

In the defence sector, deliveries take time. Poland signed for three Saab A26 submarines in June 2026. The first is due in 2031 and all three are scheduled by 2038 [1]. Colombia’s 17 Gripen fighters are due between 2027 and 2032 [2]. Italian shipmaker Fincantieri’s order book covers around eight years of revenue, with deliveries scheduled out to 2039 [3].

This means that revenues for these companies are also spread out. Some of the revenues arrive with the order through advance payments, some at delivery and some over decades of servicing and upgrades. Fighter jets and submarines can stay in service for around 40 years. So, long after the headlines fade, Europe’s push for durable peace through strength should keep these companies growing.

The push for strategic autonomy also extends well beyond the defence primes into the wider economy. Securing access to critical materials, strengthening infrastructure and developing domestic technological capabilities are closely connected objectives.

Strategic metals and European infrastructure offer two ways to explore this shift. Rare earths connect several themes through their use in energy technologies, advanced manufacturing and the magnets used in robotics. Infrastructure links economic resilience with the electricity and digital capacity needed for AI adoption.

Our interest lies in businesses that can help address these constraints. Demand for new technologies also creates demand for the materials and infrastructure that support them, opening opportunities across industries.

Policy ambition, however, does not automatically translate into shareholder returns. Projects require financing, approvals and successful execution. Additional supply can alter pricing, and political support can shift. We see the strongest investment cases where structural demand meets a credible commercial model and a valuation that allows for uncertainty.

This broadens our search beyond defence contractors to businesses positioned to benefit as spending on economic security flows through the wider economy.

AI

AI’s investment opportunity spans the businesses building its infrastructure, developing its applications and incorporating it into existing products. This connects with WisdomTree’s emphasis on the AI value chain, broadening the search beyond the companies attracting the most attention.

We are still in the infrastructure phase of AI. Hyperscalers keep adding capex, with Alphabet, Meta and Amazon Web Services expected to spend a combined $800bn or more in 2028, up from around $500bn in 2026 (see figure below). Companies are building to meet orders already in hand. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang has said cloud GPUs are sold out, and he sees at least $1 trillion of Blackwell and Rubin demand through 2027 [4].

Source: Bank of America, July 2026. Forecasts are not an indicator of future performance, and any investments are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Return on that investment is the obvious question. Anthropic offers one answer, with its annualised revenue run rate reaching $65bn in July, up from around $9bn at the end of 2025 [5]. Returns also need not stop with frontier labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI. We can consider the parallel with mobile internet. The iPhone launched in 2007, the App Store followed in 2008 and Instagram arrived in 2010. In the same way, some of the biggest beneficiaries of AI may not even exist yet.

Computing capacity is one part of the infrastructure build. AI also requires data storage, networking, power and cooling. These dependencies connect technological adoption with physical infrastructure, creating potential opportunities among suppliers whose contribution may be less visible than the finished application.

Alongside infrastructure, we are interested in businesses turning AI capabilities into useful commercial products. Software that supports design, cybersecurity or industrial automation offers different sources of demand. The applications built on today’s infrastructure are only starting to appear. The best approach is to recognise the importance of infrastructure, from energy to chips and hardware, and diversify across the value chain to avoid concentration. That captures the full opportunity set.

Robotics

AI’s next chapter extends into machines that can perceive their surroundings and act within them. Humanoid robots attract attention, but the opportunity also encompasses industrial automation, logistics and autonomous systems.

At the start of 2026, Jensen Huang said the ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here. Nvidia is backing the claim with product. It is developing the edge computing platforms and models that let AI run on the machine itself. AI is moving from the digital world into the physical one, and on-device capability is what makes that possible. Humanoids, drones, warehouse and factory robots and autonomous cars are all examples.

Production is also starting to scale. UBTech has set a capacity target of 5,000 Walker S2 humanoids in 2026 and 10,000 in 2027 [6]. Across the industry, shipments of humanoids and quadrupeds are forecast to rise from around 50,000 in 2025 to more than 800,000 by 2030 (see figure below).

 Source: Bank of America, July 2026.

Forecasts are not an indicator of future performance, and any investments are subject to risks and uncertainties.

Early deployment sits mostly in automotive factories. Hyundai’s Metaplant in Georgia brings together robotic arms, Spot quadrupeds and Atlas humanoids, with Atlas due on production tasks from 2028. Over time, robots should spread across many more sectors in smarter ways.

Labour pressures, industrial reshoring and defence applications create practical reasons for adoption. Improvements in reliability, productivity and operational flexibility can give businesses a commercial reason to invest.

The opportunity reaches beyond manufacturers of finished machines. Sensors, motion systems, computing hardware and software all contribute to making automation useful. Established suppliers may benefit alongside newer companies developing emerging technologies.

For us, the key questions are where adoption is becoming commercially meaningful and which businesses can capture the value. Demonstrations show what is technically possible; repeat orders, viable deployment costs and durable margins offer stronger evidence of an investment opportunity.

Progress will be uneven. Physical systems must operate safely and reliably in environments that are harder to control than software. We therefore examine opportunities across the robotics ecosystem, recognising that successful adoption may benefit several suppliers without producing a single clear winner.

Connecting opportunity with portfolio conviction

These themes intersect, but they are not interchangeable. Physical AI can increase demand for strategic materials, while infrastructure can support technological deployment.

Those connections make the research compelling while requiring care in portfolio construction. Different thematic labels can conceal common holdings or shared sensitivity to growth expectations. The question is what each exposure adds alongside the investments already owned.

Our focus is on connecting structural change with investable businesses, then judging the opportunity through valuation and portfolio contribution. Some of the most interesting prospects may sit several steps away from the headline innovation. Understanding those connections is where thematic research can reveal opportunities that a conventional allocation leaves underexplored.

For us, the key question is where adoption can translate into sustainable revenue, margins and cash flow. Competition, high investment requirements and changing technology can affect who captures the value. We therefore look for businesses with a clear commercial role and valuations that allow for uncertainty.

Mobeen Tahir, Director, Thematic Strategist, WisdomTree.

Sources

[1] Dailymare, June 2026.

[2] Defence Express, February 2026.

[3] Fincantieri, August 2026.

[4] Tech Crunch, March 2027.

[5] Exploding Topics, October 2026.

[6] Kyodo News PR Wire, November 2025.

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