5 Future Industries That Could Create Trillions

Most investors spend their time looking at industries that already dominate the market. Artificial intelligence is an obvious example. It has captured enormous amounts of capital and attention, but what if some of the future industries of the next 10 to 20 years are only beginning to take shape?

That was the question we wanted to explore this week.

Rather than trying to predict exactly what the world will look like decades from now, we looked at five industries that either do not formally exist today or are still in the early stages of becoming major economic forces. The objective isn't to predict the future perfectly. It's to identify where the next major flow of capital may emerge.

These themes already have big numbers behind them. The world's population aged 60 and over is expected to reach around 2.1 billion by 2050. Generative AI is estimated to add between US$2.6 trillion and US$4.4 trillion annually to the global economy. Meanwhile, the space economy has already grown into a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

So, what could the next generation of trillion-dollar industries look like?

1. Human longevity could become an industry of its own

The first area is human longevity.

We are not simply talking about traditional healthcare or pharmaceutical companies. The potential industry goes much further: extending the period in which people remain healthy and potentially increasing human lifespan itself.

Today's healthcare system primarily treats illness and disease. The future could increasingly involve preventing age-related decline through gene editing, precision medicine, regenerative therapies, AI-driven health monitoring and personalised longevity programs.

The demographic forces behind this are difficult to ignore. As previously mentioned, the population aged 60 and over is expected to reach 2.1 billion by 2050, while the number aged 80 and above is expected to triple compared with 2020.

The World Health Organization's work on its Decade of Healthy Ageing also highlights just how significant population ageing has become globally.

Pedro believes this could become one of the biggest future industries because the desire to live longer is hardly new. Once people's basic needs are met and living standards rise, it is natural that attention shifts toward improving health and extending lifespan.

And if healthy lifespans do increase significantly, the effects could spread well beyond medicine.

Insurance products may need to change. Retirement and pension systems would need to adapt. People could have several careers, creating additional demand for education and retraining.

From an investment perspective, this also opens the door to areas including biotechnology, gene editing, diagnostic companies, wearable health technology and AI-driven medical systems.

2. AI could create an entirely new digital labour market

The second future industry moves beyond the AI software we use today.

Imagine businesses employing not one or two AI assistants but thousands of specialised AI agents performing different tasks across the organisation.

That could eventually lead to AI employment marketplaces, AI licensing businesses, workforce management platforms and entirely new forms of digital commerce.

Today we think about humans using software. In the future, humans may increasingly manage teams of digital workers.

The economic opportunity is already substantial. McKinsey estimates that generative AI could create between US$2.6 trillion and US$4.4 trillion in annual economic value. Its research also estimates that current generative AI and other technologies could automate activities occupying 60 to 70 per cent of employees' working time.

Pedro raised an interesting example of how strange this economy could eventually become. AI agents can already be assigned jobs that require them to engage humans to complete parts of the task. That turns the traditional employment relationship around: rather than a person hiring software, an AI agent may hire a person.

Where that eventually leads is impossible to know, particularly once questions about the legal status and rights of autonomous AI systems enter the discussion.

For investors, however, some obvious areas to watch include computing infrastructure, AI agent marketplaces, cybersecurity, and digital workforce management.

We have discussed this broader infrastructure opportunity previously in The AI Resource Boom Nobody Is Talking About, where we looked at the resources and infrastructure required to support the continuing expansion of AI.

3. Space could develop into a new resource economy

The third industry is much bigger than rockets.

Reusable rockets and lower launch costs are important because they make access to space more practical. But the potential economic opportunity includes asteroid mining, lunar infrastructure, orbital manufacturing, space logistics and construction.

Historically, better transportation created trade. Trade created industries, and those industries attracted capital. Space could follow a similar path.

The global space economy reached around US$613 billion in 2024, with commercial activity accounting for approximately 78 per cent of the total.

The longer-term projections are even larger. Research from the World Economic Forum and McKinsey estimates the space economy could reach US$1.8 trillion by 2035 as lower costs and greater access expand the use of space-enabled technologies.

Fil believes the real opportunity may not be in launching rockets, but in the industries that develop around space, including mining, manufacturing, and resource extraction. Minerals, energy, satellite infrastructure and potentially even data centres could all form part of that economy.

4. Planetary management could move beyond renewable energy

Renewable energy gets plenty of attention, but another industry may eventually emerge around actively managing environmental systems. We called this planetary management.

It could include carbon removal networks, atmospheric monitoring, weather modification, ocean restoration, water generation and management systems, and other technologies designed to influence or repair environmental conditions.

Some of these ideas sound futuristic, while others are already being developed.

Carbon capture is one example. Governments and corporations continue to pursue net-zero objectives, yet reducing new emissions may not be sufficient on its own. That has increased interest in technologies designed to remove or capture carbon.

This is no longer purely theoretical. Listed companies are already involved in carbon capture technologies, and Fil noted seeing a company operating in this area at a recent microcap conference.

Water may become another important part of the equation, particularly as expanding data centre infrastructure increases demand for resources.

The broader question is fascinating: could future generations manage parts of the Earth's climate and environment much like we manage electricity grids today?

Fil believes that possibility is increasingly realistic.

5. Digital economies could become far more immersive

The fifth industry is not simply virtual reality or gaming. What we are talking about is the potential emergence of entire digital economies in which people work, learn, transact and interact.

That might include digital property rights, virtual commerce, AI-powered education, immersive workplaces, augmented reality and new forms of digital services.

We have already watched the internet evolve from websites to social networks and then into the creator economy. The next stage could involve far more immersive digital environments.

There are already practical examples. Someone building a new home can potentially walk through a virtual representation of the floor plan before construction. Retail technology can allow customers to visualise products without physically trying them on.

Whether today's version of the metaverse ultimately succeeds is another question.

Pedro made the point that it may have simply been marketed to the wrong generation. Younger generations growing up with digital economies may view these environments very differently.

That doesn't mean everyone will want to spend their lives inside a virtual world. Both of us have plenty of reservations about that idea.

But investors don't necessarily have to like a technological change to recognise that businesses may make money from it.

Which stocks are already exposed to these future industries?

We looked at one listed company connected with each theme.

For longevity, Fil selected CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP) because gene editing could become a foundational technology behind longevity research. He also compared it with the GNOM genomics ETF and noted the interesting divergence that has developed between their charts.

For digital labour, the obvious company was NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA). AI workers and agents require computing power, and NVIDIA currently sits at the centre of much of the infrastructure supporting AI.

In space, we looked at Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB). It builds rockets, satellites and space systems, providing exposure to the infrastructure that could support a much larger future space economy.

For planetary management, we chose Linde (NASDAQ: LIN) because of its involvement in industrial gases, carbon capture, and hydrogen technologies.

Finally, for immersive digital economies, we looked at Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) because of its substantial investment in virtual and augmented reality and the Quest ecosystem.

None of that means an emerging industry automatically makes a stock worth buying. The charts matter.

A future story may sound compelling, but the market ultimately tells us whether investors are prepared to commit capital to it. That is why we continue to combine these broader themes with price analysis rather than investing purely because a particular technology sounds exciting.

If you want to understand that distinction further, our guide on how to trade stocks explains why recognising trends and analysing price behaviour are important parts of making trading decisions.

The next trillion-dollar industry may already be taking shape

The internet existed long before most people understood how dramatically it would reshape business. The same may prove true for some of the industries we have discussed.

Longevity, digital labour, space resources, planetary management and immersive digital economies are at very different stages of development. Some already have substantial investment behind them. Others remain highly speculative.

That uncertainty is part of the point.

By the time an industry becomes obvious to everyone, much of the early market move may already have occurred.

For investors and traders, the objective isn't to know exactly what the world will look like 20 years from now. It is to recognise emerging themes, understand where capital is beginning to flow and then review the market to determine whether the price action supports the story.

Learn how to confidently read the markets

If you’re looking to build your knowledge first, Dale Gillham’s best-selling book, How to Beat the Managed Funds by 20%, provides practical insights into understanding the share market, managing risk and building wealth over time.

If you want to develop the skills to become consistently profitable, Wealth Within’s Short Course in Share Trading teaches the skills and knowledge contained in the first three modules of the government-accredited Diploma of Share Trading and Investment.

Within a structured framework, you’ll learn how to analyse the market, manage risk and develop trading rules that help you make more informed decisions. You’ll also be supported by the Wealth Within team, who have more than 80 years of combined market experience.