Thematic Investment Baskets

Merkor currently tracks eleven thematic baskets (more to come) designed to capture structural transformations through the infrastructure, technologies, resources and companies required to make them possible. They are deliberately broader than conventional sector classifications. A company can enter a basket because of the role it plays in a particular transformation, even when its formal industry classification would place it somewhere else. This matters because the largest investment cycles rarely remain contained within a single sector. The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), for example, creates demand not only for semiconductors and software, but also for data centers, electricity generation, grid infrastructure, cooling systems, industrial equipment, critical materials and, increasingly, nuclear power. The baskets are therefore intended to map the economic systems developing around major structural changes rather than simply group companies by industry. I. AI, Chips & Semiconductor ETF Basketprovides diversified exposure to the broader AI buildout through an ETF-based structure. Rather than concentrating the portfolio in individual companies, it captures a wider set of secular themes spanning semiconductors, robotics, cloud software, digital infrastructure, quantum computing, space, uranium and cybersecurity. It serves as a lower single-name-risk expression of the same technological and infrastructure transformations followed throughout the Merkor universe. II. Space Infrastructure Portfolioapproaches the space economy as an infrastructure system rather than a single industry. It covers launch providers, satellite manufacturers and operators, direct-to-device and broadband connectivity, Earth observation, geospatial intelligence, precision navigation and timing, as well as defense primes and specialist suppliers that participate heavily in government space spending. The focus is on the physical and technological infrastructure required for space to become an important layer of communications, intelligence, navigation and national security. III. Chinese Ecosystemcaptures the development of China's self-contained technology and industrial stack. The basket spans platform and cloud companies, data centers, semiconductor manufacturing and equipment, domestic AI accelerators and models, telecommunications and networking, fintech software, and industrial robotics and automation. The underlying thesis is the development of domestic capabilities across the compute and digital infrastructure value chain as China pursues greater technological self-sufficiency and import substitution. IV. AI Data Center Constructionfocuses on one of the most physical consequences of the AI boom: the rapid expansion of computing capacity. The basket covers hyperscale data-center REITs and operators, precision cooling, mission-critical power distribution, electrical and low-voltage infrastructure, engineering and construction companies, and the heavy equipment required to build and maintain power-intensive facilities. The opportunity is therefore not limited to owning data centers themselves, but extends across the companies supplying the physical systems needed to bring new AI capacity online. V. Nuclear Renaissancecaptures the renewed investment cycle surrounding nuclear energy. The basket combines uranium miners, reactor operators, utilities, defense contractors and industrial suppliers involved in the development and expansion of nuclear infrastructure. The thesis extends beyond the traditional nuclear fuel cycle: rising electricity demand decarbonization requirements, not to mention the growing power requirements of data centers are collectively increasing the strategic value of reliable baseload generation and the infrastructure surrounding it. VI. Blockchain & AI Compute Infrastructuresits at the intersection of two infrastructure systems: digital assets and high-performance computing. It focuses particularly on companies that have accumulated power capacity, land, data-center facilities, grid access and operational expertise through bitcoin mining and are now positioned to repurpose or expand those assets toward AI and HPC workloads. The opportunity is a change in the value of infrastructure itself: capacity initially developed for one computational use can become strategically valuable for another as the economics of AI compute evolve. VII. Critical Materials & Miningaddresses the physical resource base underlying electrification, energy infrastructure, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing. It provides exposure to industrial metals, uranium, lithium, rare earths and specialty chemicals whose availability can become a constraint as investment in these technologies accelerates. The relevant scarcity is not necessarily geological scarcity alone. Processing capacity, permitting, geographic concentration, infrastructure and geopolitical relationships can all determine whether a material becomes a bottleneck in an expanding supply chain. VIII. Defense, Aerospace & National Securityreflects the transformation of defense spending from a relatively narrow military-industrial category into a broader technology and industrial-capacity cycle. The basket spans prime contractors, aerospace companies, space and satellite businesses, defense electronics, IT services, cybersecurity and emerging autonomy and drone technologies. Its focus is on the companies positioned to benefit from the modernization of national-security infrastructure, where software, semiconductors, communications, autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing intersect with traditional defense capabilities. IX. Robotics & Intelligent Automation Universecaptures the automation cycle across both physical and digital systems. Rather than limiting the basket to humanoid robotics, it spans industrial robots, factory automation, sensors and machine vision, motion control, automation software and digital twins, semiconductor manufacturing automation, warehouse and logistics systems, industrial AI, medical and surgical robotics, and emerging humanoid platforms. The objective is to capture the full automation capex cycle and the multiple layers of technology required as machines become increasingly capable of operating autonomously. X. Energy Infrastructure Portfoliofocuses on the companies enabling electrification rather than simply those selling electricity. The basket spans generation, nuclear and SMR technologies, grid infrastructure and components, industrial electrical equipment, energy storage and power electronics, renewable equipment, natural gas infrastructure and engineering and EPC services. This makes the basket particularly relevant to the broader Merkor framework because virtually every major structural transformation ultimately encounters the energy system. XI. AI Infrastructure Stackrepresents the most comprehensive expression of Merkor's AI infrastructure thesis. It follows the transformation across twelve functional layers, from EDA software, wafer fabrication equipment and semiconductor materials through foundries, compute accelerators, memory and advanced packaging, networking and optics, data center infrastructure, grid modernization, power generation, industrial automation and AI-native cloud. The purpose is to capture the entire ccapex cycle behind generative AI rather than concentrate exposure on the companies most visible at the application or model layer. These baskets are not intended to function as eleven isolated investment stories. Their value lies partly in the relationships between them. AI infrastructure requires semiconductors, power, data centers, cooling, networking, materials and industrial equipment. Data center expansion feeds directly into electricity demand and, in turn, into nuclear, natural gas, grid infrastructure and critical materials. Robotics depends on semiconductors, sensors, industrial automation and AI compute. Defense overlaps with space, autonomy, cybersecurity and advanced computing. China's push for technological self-sufficiency creates demand across many of the same semiconductor, automation and infrastructure layers, but within a distinct geopolitical and industrial ecosystem. This interconnectedness is central to the Merkor approach. The objective is not simply to identify a theme and then select the companies associated with its label. It is to understand what a structural transformation requires, where investment must occur, which parts of the system can become constrained, and which companies control or supply those constrained resources. The baskets are the portfolio expression of that process.