The Updated Map of AI
January 2026
As we enter 2026, it’s worth looking back at the key signals that crystallized last year and are now shaping the trajectory of the AI landscape in the year ahead.
Indeed, the AI landscape entering 2026 confirms the barbelled economy thesis at an industrial scale. Capital concentration has reached unprecedented levels, $84 billion in mega-rounds for foundation models alone in 2025, while the middle continues to hollow out.
The critical inflection: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI are no longer just competing on model quality; they’re building vertically integrated stacks that span infrastructure, models, agents, and distribution.
The formation of the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) signals the industry’s attempt to prevent fragmentation before it calcifies into incompatible silos.
Over the past three years, I’ve been mapping the AI landscape to show how vertical integration across the full stack is taking shape. Most emerging AI-native players are converging on a model that combines hyperscale infrastructure, frontier AI models, and end-to-end stack control.
The Updated Map of AI [November 2025]
![The Updated Map of AI [November 2025]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JByG!,w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa2c6fc09-2e04-4060-8b98-aed656af281f_2018x1296.png)
For the last three years, I’ve been tracking the AI industry via vertical integration analysis. My argument has been that whoever controls computing resources will also be the hyperscaler that most sustainably controls the AI market. That’s the moat.
As we move into 2026, vertical integration for each of these players continues to accelerate. Indeed, this is how the updated AI map is shaping up.
What are some of the core signals to look for as we enter the new year?
