Sam Volkering

Spies, stolen blueprints, and an $8 billion machine order that explains AI’s future

Somewhere in Shenzhen, inside a heavily secured facility, a team of engineers working under fake identities has been trying to reverse-engineer one of the most…

Truths, half-truths, and outright lies

48 hours was the deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz. Then, just one hour before markets opened Monday, President Donald Trump said deals were getting done, negotiations were taking place, and there would be a five-day pause on strikes…

Jensen’s shopping list shows you exactly where you need to invest

I livestreamed Jensen Huang’s GTC 2026 keynote on Monday, with some live commentary.

Watch: What happens when supply lines break

War in Iran is already reshaping global supply chains and it’s starting to hit where it hurts most: energy costs.

Mark Zuckerberg redefined global warfare in 2017

Everyone’s focused on the companies building next-gen weapons and AI-powered defense systems. But the real opportunity sits deeper in the supply chain, where critical metals are becoming the ultimate bottleneck.

LIVESTREAM Alert: Nvidia GTC 2026 hosted by Sam Volkering

I wanted to let you know that I’ll be hosting a livestream of Jensen Huang’s Nvidia GTC 2026 keynote at 6 pm tonight, Monday 16 March.

Follow the oil, follow the money, follow the winners

A century ago, Middle East conflict created oil giants like BP and Shell. Today, the real winners may be a new generation of energy and critical metals companies.

No nukes dropping on data centres Down Under

Can Dubai and the Gulf ever really recover from what’s happened over the past couple of weeks?

A secret agreement, a century of oil wars, and why Iran is just the latest chapter

More than a century ago, Britain and France secretly divided the Middle East to secure oil. Today’s conflict with Iran may be the latest chapter in that same story.

Video Update: What we’re watching now in these crazy markets

Considering the volatility of the situation, I bring you today’s message via video.

War doesn't care about my growth story

Israel’s strike on Iranian oil infrastructure has pushed energy markets into a new phase of volatility. Oil is surging, gas supply contracts are breaking and commodities across the globe are reacting. The bigger story, however, is what this means for investors — and where capital tends to flow when geopolitics catches fire.

The first AI war has begun and data centres are now military targets

When the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran this weekend, most of the headlines focused on missiles, drones and retaliation. But something far more important happened behind the scenes.

Bombs, oil, AI…and your portfolio

The market thinks this won’t last. We’re not so sure.

Nvidia dominating earnings is as predictable as the sun rising

Nvidia just posted US$68.1 billion in quarterly revenue, with over 91% of sales now tied to AI infrastructure. But Nvidia doesn’t operate in isolation. Behind every GPU sits a supply chain. And that’s where the next asymmetric opportunities may be hiding.

She went to the charity shop. I built an app by dinner.

After my wife couldn’t find the next book in our kids’ Minecraft series, I built an app in an afternoon using AI. But the real story isn’t the app. It’s what happened behind the scenes — the platforms AI pushed me toward, the infrastructure it depends on, and the market overreactions creating tradeable opportunities right now.

Speed is everything. And nothing is faster than light.

AI investors have focused on chips, memory and data centres. But the real race is now about inference speed — how fast AI can think and respond in real time. And the next breakthrough may not come from more electrons… but from light itself.

One million percent gains from dark web GPUs?

In 2010, bitcoin miners weren’t obsessing over price. They were scrambling for GPUs. Today, the same kind of hardware rush is unfolding around AI. Memory, storage and compute are tightening fast — and if history is any guide, the real opportunity may lie in the companies supplying the shovels, not the headlines grabbing the hype.

How to become a great investor in two simple steps

Most investors don’t fail because of markets. Web excerpt: Markets are flat-out bonkers right now. Volatility is everywhere. And most investors are far less prepared for that than they think. In this essay, we lay out a simple two-step framework to help you understand your true risk tolerance – and structure your portfolio accordingly.

Is this little silver orb the key to making trillions?

Forget the orb. The real story is how easily AI can now build, design, and deploy products at scale. That changes everything and it’s happening faster than most people realise.

Three reasons why bias matters in investing

Most investing mistakes aren’t caused by bad ideas — they’re caused by bias, emotion, and poor decision-making under pressure. This article breaks down how behavioural finance quietly sabotages investors, and how recognising those biases can lead to better long-term outcomes.