GCC capital flows are shifting inward toward defense spending and internal investment due to regional instability, reducing the capital available for export and creating structural reallocation of global capital flows.

Artificial intelligence buildout is a major demand-side dynamic that Bridgewater has been tracking since 2012, with key inflection in 2024 (when they assessed it as 'a bet on science' with bubble risk ahead) and 2025 (shift to resource grab phase).

Global energy supply chain creates rolling set of chokepoints; solving one (e.g., moving from oil to renewables) creates another chokepoint elsewhere (e.g., mineral sourcing, regulatory bottlenecks).

Energy supply diversification and resilience strategies driven by the Iran crisis will require massive capital investment and infrastructure spending, intensifying competition for capital in an environment already strained by fiscal mercantilism spending and AI data center capex.