Larry Fink’s Annual Letter: AI, Nuclear Energy, and the Future of Capital Markets

All too often, all of this is filtered through a short-term prism. Daily market fluctuations are interpreted as signs, and complex economic and technological transitions are compressed into a headline. We live in a world where information moves instantly, and responses come quickly. Sometimes it feels like a dopamine mechanism that rewards short-term urges. But speed can distort perspective and push out long-term thinking.

Over time, staying invested in the market is much more important than the right timing. Over the past two decades, every dollar invested in the S&P 500 has grown more than eightfold. If you missed only the ten best days – you earned less than half of that. The danger is that we focus so much on the loudness of the noise that we forget what is really important.

independence: The world gives up dependence

The old model of global capitalism is crumbling. Countries spend huge sums to become independent: in energy, security, technology. Meanwhile, the vast majority of wealth flowed to people who owned property, not to people who earned most of their money from work. This is where much of today’s economic anxiety comes from: there is a deep sense that capitalism works, but just not for enough people. Focusing on short-term investments is not a solution to this.

First, the world is reorganizing itself around independence. This requires a long-term investment. Everywhere I go, I hear some version of the same thing. Europe is building its defense industry; Emerging markets produce domestic energy; The United States is trying to rebuild its manufacturing sector. The details are different, but the trend is clear: countries are investing to be less dependent on each other.

This transition is expensive. Any move toward independence means, at least temporarily, giving up the benefits that have kept costs low for decades. Where does the money come from? Historically, most funding has come from banks, corporations and governments rather than the capital markets. But these channels are no longer enough. Banks alone cannot finance what a growing economy needs. Governments are carrying record debts. Even the richest economies in the Persian Gulf, sitting on vast sovereign wealth, do not finance their ambitions with public money alone. When the “Magnificent Seven” build data centers or infrastructure, even they turn to the capital markets.

energy: The nucleus is critical for the long term

For years I argued for energetic pragmatism. Meeting the growing demand will require expanding the supply in all energy sectors: oil and gas, renewable energies, storage, nuclear and power grids. No single source can do this alone. Natural gas remains essential for reliability, and the US has an abundant supply, but gas is not expected to keep pace with growth in electricity demand. Nuclear power will also be critical in the long term, but new generation capacity takes time to develop – reinforcing the need to expand additional sources.

Solar energy is expected to play a significant role. Today, most of the world’s solar and battery production capacity is concentrated in China. For reasons of resilience and security, the US and its partners are investing in diversifying production and expanding domestic production. The goal is not to favor one technology over another. The goal is to ensure that the US can generate enough reliable and efficient electricity to support both household budgets and competitiveness.

Inequality: The risk of artificial intelligence

Second, wider participation in investment can help address the wealth inequality that the previous era of global capitalism left behind. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, more wealth has been created than in all of previous human history combined. In the developing world, more than a billion people have moved out of extreme poverty and into the middle class. Companies in the developed world have gained access to vast new markets. Consumers got cheaper goods. But in rich countries, these benefits have accumulated in the hands of too few.

Housing is not a guaranteed high return investment. Across many advanced economies, rising housing prices and tighter lending conditions have made home ownership more difficult to achieve, particularly for young people. It’s hard not to empathize with people who deal with it. If you no longer believe that your job is a path to success, believe that you can’t afford a house, or believe that even if you could he wouldn’t accumulate much wealth, then the economy doesn’t feel like it’s working for you. No country can prosper if its citizens feel this way.

Third, there is a real risk that artificial intelligence will widen wealth inequality if ownership does not expand alongside it. When we talk about the economic disruption of AI, most of the conversation is about jobs. But history suggests that transformative technologies create enormous value, and a large part of that value accumulates in the companies that build and operate them, and the investors who own them. The economy rewards scale on an unprecedented scale. In industry after industry, we see results where leading companies are moving forward while others struggle to keep pace.

AI may accelerate this trend even further. The companies with the data, infrastructure and capital to implement artificial intelligence are positioned to benefit disproportionately. The broader question is who shares in the profits. When market capitalization rises but ownership remains narrow, prosperity can feel increasingly distant to those outside it.

And a brief thought on AI and the workforce: Historically, automation has increased productivity and over time expanded the variety of work available, even as it displaced specific roles. The AI ​​may do the same. But new roles take time to emerge, and employees do not always transition smoothly from old roles to new ones.

In the short term, there are roles that we know are clearly in demand, and pay well: skilled manual trades, particularly those building the physical infrastructure of AI. In the US, employment of electricians is growing three times faster than the national average. But the problem goes deeper than training. For decades, many companies have equated success with a college degree and a white-collar career path. As technology reshapes parts of the landscape, we need a broader conversation about opportunity, respect and the value of different jobs.

Blackrock: An ambitious recruitment plan

In July, the US will celebrate 250. But 2026 is more than an American celebration. Democracy depends on people who feel they have a real stake in the future of their country. And the capital markets are now the mechanism that can make that stake real. Blackrock has grown alongside this change.

We have an ambitious fundraising plan for 2026 that is diversified between infrastructure capital and debt, private financing solutions and multi-alternatives on the way to a goal of 400 billion dollars in private markets by 2030. Looking ahead towards 2030, we aim to transfer more than 35 billion dollars in revenues, with 30% or more coming from private markets and technology. We see a considerable opportunity to bring private markets to more investors, which can be used as a portfolio enhancer with diversification from the public markets, alongside long-term growth and income potential.