Where the money goes in each supercycle
Every long-term buildout has a bill of materials. Compare where the spending goes in AI, power, defense, space and robotics, using the latest published figures.
Visual guide
Where the money goes in each supercycle
Every long-term buildout has a bill of materials: the equipment, components and services that have to be paid for before it can scale. Pick a supercycle to see where the spending goes, using the latest public figures.
See how VistaShares maps the bill of materials behind each Supercycle®
Figures are the most recent published by each source and are shown for education only. They are estimates or budget requests, not forecasts, and do not describe any fund.
How it works
Each view breaks one buildout into the parts that must be paid for, using a dated primary source.
Sources. AI: Epoch AI's model of a 1 gigawatt AI data center (May 2026), $37.9 billion up front with 56% in servers. Power: the International Energy Agency's World Energy Investment 2026, $1.59 trillion of power sector investment in 2026 with 34% in grids. Defense: the fiscal 2027 U.S. defense budget request, $1.45 trillion with 52% in procurement and research. Space: the Space Foundation's Global Space Economy Report 2026, a $686 billion economy in 2025, 79% commercial. Robotics: McKinsey (April 2026), with actuators 40% to 60% of a humanoid robot's bill of materials.
How to read it. The bar shows each part's share of the total; the cards show the headline figures. Robotics shares are ranges, so bar lengths use the middle of each range.
Assumptions. Figures are estimates or budget requests as published, not forecasts, and do not describe any fund.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much does a 1 gigawatt AI data center cost to build?
Epoch AI estimated about $37.9 billion up front in May 2026, with about 56% going to servers, 30% to the facility and 13% to networking.
How much is invested in power grids?
The International Energy Agency estimated about $541 billion of grid investment in 2026, about 34% of $1.59 trillion of power sector investment.
How big is the U.S. defense budget request for fiscal 2027?
The fiscal 2027 request totals $1.45 trillion including mandatory funding, with procurement at $413.1 billion and research and development at $343.7 billion.
What is a bill of materials in investing?
It is a map of the equipment, components and services a buildout requires, used to see which parts of a supply chain the spending flows to.
Learn more
- What Is Bill of Materials Investing?
- What Goes Into an AI Data Center? The Bill of Materials Explained
- How Does the U.S. Defense Budget Work?
- Thematic and Infrastructure Investing
- All ETF calculators and tools
Embed this tool
You can add this tool to your own website free of charge. Copy the code below; the tool stays up to date and links back to this page.
For educational purposes only. This material is not investment, legal or tax advice, and it is not a recommendation or offer to buy or sell any security. Figures from third-party sources are believed to be reliable as of the dates shown but are not guaranteed. Investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal.