Let them eat cake (and AI’s Price is Right moment)

Sustainability US Equity Research 28 August 2026

George Gianarikas | Analyst | Canaccord Genuity LLC (US) | | Jason Tilchen, CFA | Analyst | Canaccord Genuity LLC (US) | | Matt Paciulli | Associate | Canaccord Genuity LLC (US) | |

Let them eat cake (and AI’s Price is Right moment) Please bear with us as we eventually wind this all back to the arithmetic of power demand and our broader coverage list.

And let it be said plainly: we believe AI will rewrite the human story. It is a stunning leap forward.

But awe is no substitute for accounting.

We continue to see imbalances here - financial and societal - sharp edges that demand a steady hand and a clear eye. Beneath the architecture of the new machine age lie fractures, maybe froth, and profound structural strains. The system is blinking yellow to us, perhaps red, with oddities we cannot simply wave away in our enthusiasm.

We are capitalists. We champion technology, and that timeless human hunger to outdo ourselves, to fashion the new. But we are analysts first, who can be right and can be wrong. Our perspective on these topics is no different; we are acutely aware of the aphorism that being early is indistinguishable from being wrong. When the music plays, we love the dance - but when the floor begins to buckle, our duty is to name the risks, no matter how bright the lights and no matter the hour.

And - as far as we see it, we are living through a strange era - a peculiar theater of the absurd that future generations will likely look back on with a laugh. Or a sob. Or maybe both.

We're the TAM... Let start by "admiring" recent reports that a frontier lab is reportedly staking out a $30T TAM (Total Addressable Market).

It is a number so formidable - in our opinion - that it instantly evokes Dr. Evil standing in front of the “United Nations Secret Meeting Room,” pinky pressed to his lip, demanding $100B.

If these whispers hold true, this company has managed to out-hype even that spacy company's gravity-defying $26.5T number. Truly, a magnificent Price is Right moment for the ages. You have to hand it to the architects at the AI “lab” - managing to seamlessly weave both Dr. Evil and Bob Barker into a single pitch deck.

For those keeping score at home, let us ground this "TAM": U.S. nominal GDP hovers right around $32T, while the entire economic output of planet Earth - yes, every factory, power plant, farm, McDonald’s, and Tim Horton’s - sits at roughly $126T.

So, how could the team at this frontier AI "lab" possibly justify that sort of TAM? Well, we haven’t seen the deck - but here’s a wild guess: you. And me. And all of us. All of human labor.

Pundits claim we're all going to be replaced. Daily displacement estimates feel like a twisted auction block - 30%! What about 50%? Do I hear 60%?!

Canaccord Genuity is the global capital markets group of Canaccord Genuity Group Inc. (CF : TSX) The recommendations and opinions expressed in this research report accurately reflect the research analyst's personal, independent and objective views about any and all the companies and securities that are the subject of this report discussed herein.

For important information, please see the Important Disclosures beginning on page 8 of this document.

Sustainability Industry Update

...but we're not so sure if that's right, especially around pace.... But there is a glaring paradox at the heart of the tech boom: they know code can automate code - that’s their backyard, we get it. What they drastically underestimate - in our opinion - is the stubborn friction of the physical; the real world: how rapidly a force capable of upending the digital realm will inevitably destabilize everything else. When trillions of dollars hang in the balance, real commitments around data centers and power, we believe that velocity of spillover is everything. Everything.

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