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2026.11: Winners, Losers, and the Unknown

March 14, 2026
•Feed: » stratechery by ben thompson
2026.11: Winners, Losers, and the Unknown

Here's something that caught my attention — Ben Thompson points out that AI's future isn’t about cheap models, but those who can harness the best from the creators themselves. So, the companies who excel at integrating AI, like Microsoft, are realizing that the magic happens when you tap into the model makers, not just the infrastructure. But here’s where it gets interesting — Thompson suggests that the real winners will be the ones who can effectively leverage these top-tier models, not just build the fastest hardware or most cloud capacity. That shifts the game entirely. Now, what does this mean for you? If you're investing or working in AI, keep an eye on who’s actually making the models, not just the tools around them. As Ben writes, the AI landscape is evolving into a race for the best models, and those who get that will shape the future. A fascinating shift, with plenty at stake for anyone involved in tech.

(Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery!

As a reminder, each week, every Friday, we’re sending out this overview of content in the Stratechery bundle; highlighted links are free for everyone. Additionally, you have complete control over what we send to you. If you don’t want to receive This Week in Stratechery emails (there is no podcast), please uncheck the box in your delivery settings.

On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week.

  1. Integration and AI. One of the most important and longest-running questions about AI has been whether or not models would be commodities; Microsoft once bet on their integration with OpenAI, but in recent years has made the best that the infrastructure they can build around models will matter more than models themselves. However, the most recent evidence — particularly Copilot Cowork — is that the companies who are best able to harness (pun intended) model capabilities are the model makers themselves. If none of that makes sense, Andrew and I do a much more extensive deep dive on these different layers of the evolving AI value chain on this week’s episode of Sharp Tech. — Ben Thompson
  1. The Team Test and a Basketball Disgrace. On Greatest of All Talk, we thought the news of the week would be the return of Jayson Tatum for the Boston Celtics, which provided a delightful excuse to take stock of the Celtics, Wemby’s gravity-defying Spurs, Shai’s Thunder, KD’s Rockets and the NBA’s field of title contenders using Ben’s very scientific Capital-T Team Test for contenders. That was a great episode. Unfortunately, on the follow-up Friday, we had to discuss the crime against basketball decency that took place in Miami Tuesday night. Come for the Team Test joy, then, and stay for Erik Spoelstra outrage (and also check out Ben Golliver’s column about the calamity on his new Substack). — Andrew Sharp

  2. The US, China and Iran. The past two weeks in the China policy space have been full of debates over the implications of the war in Iran for China specifically, and the U.S.-China relationship generally. I wrote about all of it on Sharp Text this week, including thoughts on some takes from last year that haven’t aged well, and why, with respect to China, the war in Iran is best understood as the latest in a succession of U.S.-led body blows to Beijing’s global interests. At least over the past 12 months, countering China has been a consideration in almost everything the U.S. has done in the foreign policy space. — AS

Stratechery Articles and Updates

Sharp Text by Andrew Sharp

  • Loud and Clear — The War in Iran is not entirely about China, but it’s definitely about China.

Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber

Asianometry with Jon Yu

Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Bill Bishop

Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver

Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson

This week’s Stratechery video is on Anthropic and Alignment.

Audio Transcript
(Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery!

As a reminder, each week, every Friday, we’re sending out this overview of content in the Stratechery bundle; highlighted links are free for everyone. Additionally, you have complete control over what we send to you. If you don’t want to receive This Week in Stratechery emails (there is no podcast), please uncheck the box in your delivery settings.

On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week.

  1. Integration and AI. One of the most important and longest-running questions about AI has been whether or not models would be commodities; Microsoft once bet on their integration with OpenAI, but in recent years has made the best that the infrastructure they can build around models will matter more than models themselves. However, the most recent evidence — particularly Copilot Cowork — is that the companies who are best able to harness (pun intended) model capabilities are the model makers themselves. If none of that makes sense, Andrew and I do a much more extensive deep dive on these different layers of the evolving AI value chain on this week’s episode of Sharp Tech. — Ben Thompson
  1. The Team Test and a Basketball Disgrace. On Greatest of All Talk, we thought the news of the week would be the return of Jayson Tatum for the Boston Celtics, which provided a delightful excuse to take stock of the Celtics, Wemby’s gravity-defying Spurs, Shai’s Thunder, KD’s Rockets and the NBA’s field of title contenders using Ben’s very scientific Capital-T Team Test for contenders. That was a great episode. Unfortunately, on the follow-up Friday, we had to discuss the crime against basketball decency that took place in Miami Tuesday night. Come for the Team Test joy, then, and stay for Erik Spoelstra outrage (and also check out Ben Golliver’s column about the calamity on his new Substack). — Andrew Sharp

  2. The US, China and Iran. The past two weeks in the China policy space have been full of debates over the implications of the war in Iran for China specifically, and the U.S.-China relationship generally. I wrote about all of it on Sharp Text this week, including thoughts on some takes from last year that haven’t aged well, and why, with respect to China, the war in Iran is best understood as the latest in a succession of U.S.-led body blows to Beijing’s global interests. At least over the past 12 months, countering China has been a consideration in almost everything the U.S. has done in the foreign policy space. — AS

Stratechery Articles and Updates

Sharp Text by Andrew Sharp

  • Loud and Clear — The War in Iran is not entirely about China, but it’s definitely about China.

Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber

Asianometry with Jon Yu

Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Bill Bishop

Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and Ben Golliver

Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson

This week’s Stratechery video is on Anthropic and Alignment.

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