I live in silicon valley which means I am well aware of the hype around the term Unicorn startups. The unicorn term was coined by Aileen Lee in 2013 for $1B+ private startups. It was not just to quickly get early investors eager to invest in startups. It was in a pre-AI world where billion-dollar startups were rare but have become common. I am also a futurist and I am trying to describe what is happening with superAI and wealth and companies. People are not aware of history and the rise of corporations. It was asked why I write about Elon Musk becoming a half a trillionaire or the media control of the wealthy in big tech. They have levels of power and influence that are more concentrated that in previous points in history. This is pattern recognition of current developments and history.
OpenAI, XAI and Anthropic and a wave of AI companies could become trillion dollar valuation startups in 2026. OpenAI raised at $300 billion and the next round could be $500 billion. SpaceX is at $400 billion and could become a trillion dollar company or more in 2026. I suggest choosing between two terms, Kilocorns for 1000 Billion and UniTera for Single Trillions. If someone was writing about 2000 Unicorn startups and 200 Decacorns then they could continue to Kilocorns. However, we will crossover $10 trillion in 2026 and 2027. We should then use UniTera and DecaTera to differentiate between single digit trillion and over ten trillion. If AI causes the explosion in valuation to continue then we will need an adaptable naming convention.
I am going to try to give historical context and some new terms to make it easier to internalize the scale.
Nvidia’s $4 to 4.5 Trillion cap embodies Epoch AI’s GATE model where AI automation could grow the world economy by 100 times by 2040. This would be industrial revolution 120 years compacted into 15-20 years. The Industrial revolution took a $1 trillion global economy and turned it into a $100 trillion economy over about 160 years. This is not hype. This is history. The world economy has been doubling every 20-25 years.
They have a model using detailed data that projects 2-20x GDP (from 2-3% per year to 6-60% per year) acceleration via AI automation by 2040.
We need words for hyperscalers that could become $100 trillion companies horizons.
Kilocorns for 1000 Billion and UniTera for Single Trillions
Trillion-dollar entities? Apple or Microsoft are casually dubbed trillion-dollar clubs. It is descriptive but does not embody what is happening or the trends or get to context.
I suggest we use the Greek prefixes and also merge in suffixes echoing the metric system.
If the world economy rapidly becomes 100 times bigger then the biggest companies could go from near $5 trillion to $1000 trillion. 10% growth would see doubling in 7 years and 20% growth sees doubling in 3.5 years and 30% growth sees doubling in about 2 years. The biggest companies are sustaining 15-25% annual growth. The AI wave could accelerate this growth.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
tunicorn
Triceratops
It’s called a bubble
Explain Oklo SPAC with Altman. It doesn’t make sense to me to tie in sodium fast reactor with AI, especially considering their first submittal to the NRC was rejected for lack of response on requests for additional information. Make it make sense.
It really made me think about how big and powerful these AI companies like OpenAI are becoming. It’s amazing to imagine them being worth trillions of dollars. The comparison to past ‘unicorn’ startups was very helpful.
A weather balloon.
They are merely inflated unicorn. Like a blowup unicorn ring for a toddler’s swimming pool. They will be as sad and flat by the seasons end.
An Indrik is a Russian folklore King of all the animals sort of Unicorn.
The name unicorn was just a reference to being magical and rare. A name for a Unicorn 1000X as rare might just be a special sort of Unicorn like an “Indrik”.