For the past two years, the 'Magnificent 7' — Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla — has been Wall Street's shorthand for the companies driving the artificial intelligence rally. But as the AI trade matures, analysts are already looking beyond that exclusive club.
Following SpaceX's record-breaking market debut, a new grouping is gaining traction among investors. Dubbed the 'FAB 10' — short for Frontier AI & Big Tech 10 — it adds Elon Musk's aerospace firm, along with OpenAI and Anthropic, to the original seven. The term was coined by London-based Vanda Research and is being picked up by strategists who see the first phase of the AI boom giving way to a broader, more diversified second act.
What the FAB 10 Captures
The 'Magnificent 7' label, introduced by Bank of America's Michael Hartnett in late 2023, has served its purpose well. The seven companies now boast a combined market capitalisation of roughly $22.6 trillion (€19.5 trillion), with Nvidia alone worth over $5 trillion (€4.33 trillion) as the world's most valuable listed firm. But the three newcomers bring a different flavour to the table.
SpaceX, now the sixth most valuable company globally by market cap after its first trading day above $192 per share, adds aerospace and satellite connectivity through its Starlink division. OpenAI and Anthropic are among the leading developers of frontier AI models, and both have filed to go public later this year, potentially at valuations exceeding $1 trillion (€861 billion) each. According to Vanda, the ten companies collectively map the direction of the AI and technology sectors over the coming decade.
Yet the label has a wrinkle: two of its members are not yet listed. OpenAI and Anthropic remain private, making the 'FAB 10' as much a conceptual shorthand as a tradable basket. For European investors, this raises questions about how to gain exposure to these names before their IPOs — and whether the eventual listings will be accessible on exchanges in Frankfurt, Paris, or London.
Not the Only Contender
The 'FAB 10' is not the only new acronym in circulation. Bank of America has proposed an 'AI Big 10' that swaps the three newcomers for chipmakers Broadcom, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and Micron, reflecting the ongoing semiconductor rally. Another rival label, 'MANGOS', has surfaced, grouping Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google (Alphabet), OpenAI, and SpaceX.
Strategists caution that none of these labels signals the demise of the 'Magnificent 7'. The original seven still account for roughly a third of the S&P 500 index, and investors are not abandoning them — they are simply broadening the definition of who leads the AI era. For European readers, the shift underscores the importance of monitoring US tech giants' valuations and their ripple effects on European semiconductor suppliers, cloud service providers, and AI startups.
As the AI landscape evolves, the 'FAB 10' may become a useful tool for tracking where capital is flowing — and for European policymakers and investors alike, understanding these dynamics is key to navigating the next wave of technological change.
