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The company, a Dutch confectioner of lithography machines – those intricate devices that etch the future onto silicon – finds itself in a position of enviable, almost suffocating, dominance. It is, quite simply, the sole purveyor of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) technology, a process as vital to modern chip fabrication as a well-mixed martini is to a civilized evening. The relentless hunger for processing power – fuelled by the insatiable maw of artificial intelligence – has, predictably, benefited ASML. The demand, one might say, is less a rising tide than a frothing, iridescent wave.

To seek a single vessel for such a portfolio is not to embrace optimism, but to acknowledge the sheer impossibility of informed omniscience. The Invesco Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQM 1.19%) presents itself as such a vessel. It is not a panacea, but a distillation—a concentrated essence of the prevailing currents. It offers, if nothing else, a degree of insulation against the inevitable failings of individual enterprises – a small hedge against the relentless entropy of the market.

The question is not whether silver will continue to rise, but whether this ascent bears any relation to genuine investment value. Is this a flight to safety, or simply a collective delusion?

Let us consider, then, two such glimmers: Spotify Technology, and Pinterest. Not shining beacons, mind you, but flickering candles in the gloom, worthy of a closer inspection, particularly for those with a tolerance for risk and a fondness for the peculiar.

They rent out space in these digital caverns to the giants, and also to a rather brainy bunch called OpenAI – the folks who make computers talk, if you can imagine such a thing. The real muscle behind it all, the very whizz-bangery, comes from something called ‘GPUs’ – graphics processing units – made by a company called Nvidia. But CoreWeave isn’t just a customer, oh no. They’ve become… well, let’s just say Nvidia has taken a rather substantial liking to them.

They both want to be the operating system for everything, naturally. It reminds me of my brother, Mark, trying to organize our mother’s Tupperware collection. An admirable effort, but ultimately doomed to failure. There’s just too much plastic. And in this case, too much data. Alphabet, with its Gemini models embedded in everything from search to, apparently, Apple’s revamped Siri (launching in 2026, a lifetime in tech years), is betting on ubiquity. Siri, though. That’s a bold move. I’ve had more coherent conversations with Winston. But the Apple deal is clever. It’s like admitting search isn’t enough, that you need access to two billion devices to really matter. Their $155 billion backlog in Google Cloud is impressive, and the Wiz acquisition, if it goes through, will be interesting. Though, honestly, the names of these security firms all blend together after a while. It’s like they’re trying to sound vaguely menacing.

The question, inevitably, arises: a bubble? Time, as always, will be the judge. But I suspect the technology itself possesses a certain staying power, a cold, logical persistence. It is the attendant frenzy, the proliferation of ventures built on vapor and hope, that will likely founder. The true cost, as ever, will be borne by those least equipped to absorb the shock.

But here’s the kicker. That initial investment? Multiply it by, oh, just a little over a million percent. 1,051,600% to be precise, as of January 30th. I mean, seriously? That’s the kind of return that makes you question all your life choices. Like, maybe I should have skipped that art history degree and just…invested in fries.

But fear not, for here enters Artificial Intelligence, a sort of digital Jeeves, if you will, capable of sorting out these bothersome details with a speed and efficiency that would make even the most seasoned logistics manager green with envy. It’s a splendid thing, AI, and Samsara (IOT 3.58%), a company that seems to have grasped its potential, has been making rather a name for itself. Though, I must confess, the market has been a bit beastly to it of late, knocking the stock down a good 33% in the last year. A temporary setback, I suspect, for a fundamentally sound concern.