Buyers went to Davos for AI. They left speaking about Greenland

Transferring between panels, resort lobbies, and conferences this week, it usually felt like two conferences have been occurring in the identical snowy Swiss village.

In a single Davos, the temper was strikingly optimistic. Executives and buyers spoke about synthetic intelligence shifting from hype to manufacturing, phrases like “world fashions” and “bodily AI” have been being thrown round, with discussions concerning the huge swimming pools of capital able to again it.

Within the different, numerous conversations appeared to finish up again at tariffs, Greenland, geopolitical tensions, and a rising sense that the worldwide guidelines buyers have relied on for many years are shifting in actual time.

Each worlds overlapped always. Usually, in the identical dialog.

“What Davos highlighted this yr shouldn’t be a disaster of innovation, however a disaster of coherence and lack of belief,” Chavalit Frederick Tsao, chairman of Singapore-based family-run buying and selling enterprise Tsao Pao Chee, mentioned on the sidelines. “Expertise is advancing sooner than our collective knowledge.”

That stress between swift innovation and political uncertainty outlined a lot of the week.

On Wednesday, 1000’s queued for greater than an hour to listen to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tackle on the Congress Corridor. I stood in line for 90 minutes. Inside, the environment felt extra like a live performance than a coverage discussion board.

Trump’s speech swung between humor, provocation, and unpredictability. However when he turned to Greenland — insisting the U.S. wanted to accumulate the Arctic island — the temper within the room modified.

Individuals who laughed moments earlier than turned quiet. Some shook their heads; others exchanged uneasy glances.

Within the subsequent few hours, Greenland and tariffs dominated conversations and appeared to have moved on from AI infrastructure and vitality investments to commerce leverage and political danger.

The very subsequent day, Elon Musk returned to Davos after years away from the discussion board.

In a packed session, Tesla‘s CEO outlined an bold imaginative and prescient for robotaxis, humanoid robots, and AI improvement. He mentioned Tesla’s driverless robotaxis can be “very, very widespread” within the U.S. by the tip of 2026. He additionally predicted AI may surpass human intelligence as quickly as this yr.

For a lot of attendees, it reset the temper. Afterward, conversations moved to information facilities, battery storage, computing energy, and the way cities and grids will deal with the anticipated surge in demand for vitality.

The distinction with the day earlier than was stark.

Sooner or later, Davos was attempting to grasp the geopolitical implications of Trump’s speech. Subsequent, it was again to speaking concerning the technological future at full pace.

That whiplash saved displaying up in interviews all through the week.

Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, deputy CEO of Abu Dhabi-based funding big Mubadala, instructed CNBC’s Dan Murphy the funding stance into 2026 could possibly be summed up in two phrases: “conviction pushed.”

“So it isn’t chaotic, however the world is turning into extra fragmented, indubitably,” he mentioned.

“That may include its personal alternative, however pitfalls as properly … So long as you may deploy capital in a methodical, strategic, conviction-driven kind of method, then I believe you are going to be forward of the pack”

In the meantime, Joe Kaeser, chair of Siemens Power, framed AI as an industrial alternative relatively than a race for shoppers.

“There isn’t a such continent on the planet which has as a lot information on industrialization, mechanization, and automation as Europe,” he instructed CNBC. 

“Mix that with computing energy, and Europe has one of the best choices to outline the place the bodily and the digital come collectively.”

Kaeser mentioned leaders have been nonetheless ready to see whether or not coverage bulletins would translate into motion.

“The jury continues to be out on whether or not issues can be executed as introduced,” he mentioned. “But when one of many essential gamers shouldn’t be prepared to play, it is dangerous for everyone.”

For finance ministers and different policymakers, a lot of the Davos message this yr was about reassurance.

Enoch Godongwana, South Africa’s finance minister, highlighted current credit score upgrades, his nation’s removing from the U.S. Monetary Motion Activity Power’s grey checklist, and political stability, earlier than the dialog turned to managing ties with Washington and commerce talks.

“The primary danger for South Africa’s economic system is the geopolitical scenario,” he instructed CNBC. “It’s tough to foretell, and we do not know its implications.”

Saudi Arabia’s finance minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, returned repeatedly to the necessity for dialogue.

“What companies want is certainty,” he mentioned, including that disputes ought to be resolved via dialogue.

By week’s finish, a transparent sample appeared.

Panels on AI, the vitality transition, and industrial reinvention have been packed. Personal discussions centered on growth, deployment, and long-term prospects.

However in much less busy moments — over espresso, in corridors, on shuttles — the speak returned to Greenland, tariffs, and the way swiftly coverage may alter the funding calculus.

One Davos centered on the tech frontier and what AI may unlock. The opposite centered on navigating geopolitical uncertainty and preserving the circumstances that allow that progress.

Each unfolded on the identical time, in the identical village, usually in the identical dialog.

Observe CNBC Worldwide on Twitter and Fb.