Investing in tomorrow today is a trait of a billionaire. Elon Musk invested in electric cars back in the early 2000s. Jeff Bezos invested in e-commerce in the 1990s. And today, they are among the richest people on the planet. Investing in future technologies can give your money a chance to grow 10 or 100x in the long term, but you need patience to wait for that technology to gain wider adoption. So, which technologies are blooming and could become the next hot trend and change your daily life?
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Clean energy trend
The need of the hour is energy independence and zero carbon emissions. Governments worldwide are coming to recognize green hydrogen as the best alternative to fossil fuels.
Ballard Power Systems (TSX:BLDP) is a participant in the green hydrogen initiative. It has been researching and developing a method to make heavy vehicles run on water. The technology is ready and working well for buses, commercial trucks, trains, and marine vessels. The company is also receiving orders from industries to build hydrogen fuel cells.
But it is expensive to separate hydrogen from water as this needs electrolyzers powered by renewable energy. Ballard Power Systems and other companies are working on advanced manufacturing technology to make hydrogen fuel cells cost-effective.
Now is a good time to buy stocks of Ballard Power Systems and hold it for a decade or two. Once the fuel cells achieve wider adoption, the company could be a key beneficiary of the hydrogen fuel trend, and the stock price could grow severalfold.
The IoT proliferation
While the hydrogen fuel trend is still in the early stage of development, a more prominent trend that has been trying to gather momentum is the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is every edge device, from security cameras to smart watches, to drones that are connected to the internet and perform tasks in the field. At present, edge devices have limited functionality as they need high-speed internet connectivity to perform artificial intelligence (AI) at the edge with minimal lag.
Canadian telecoms have deployed 5G infrastructure, setting the stage for the IoT proliferation. The need of the hour is a software ecosystem that can enhance AI capability and provide an endpoint security solution to keep the device secure.
BlackBerry (TSX:BB) has an endpoint management system trusted by most governments worldwide. The company’s stock has been trading in the $5–$8 price range as the technology adoption has taken a step back amid recession fears.
BlackBerry has its QNX software ready for wider adoption in IoT and automotive applications, with several design wins. It is expanding its ecosystem with an IVY vehicle intelligent system that can act on the data coming from vehicles. The maker of software for connected vehicles has also received the first design win for IVY.
Now is a good time to buy the stock while it trades below $8. Once automotive demand picks up and companies increase their budget for cyber security, Blackberry stock could grow severalfold.
The Blockchain trend
Another exciting trend is Web 3.0, an interactive and intelligent web that offers more than just information. Web 3.0 has Metaverse, ChatGPT, and decentralized content ownership. One technology that will underpin Web 3.0 and data centres is blockchain technology. The first application of this tech is crypto mining, but it is gaining prominence in other applications.
Hut 8 Mining (TSX:HUT) is creating a hybrid data centre model that brings digital asset mining and open-source distributed ledger technology to underutilized areas like gaming, visual effects, and government agencies. If successful, it could be among the tech companies that benefit from Web 3.0. It will also benefit from crypto adoption as its main business is still crypto mining, holding a large inventory of Bitcoin.
Hut 8 Mining stock is trading in the lower range as the company is merging with U.S. Data Mining Group to create a new Hut 8. For every share, existing Hut shareholders will get 0.2 shares of the new Hut 8. You can buy this stock now and park your money in Web 3.0’s future.
