In the 21st century, the most valuable assets aren’t oil wells, factories, data centers, or even AI large language models. The industries of the future require critical minerals. As the world seeks to generate massive amounts of energy, the real money isn’t in mining lithium, nickel, or rare earths—it’s in controlling how they move, process, and scale. A new industrial empire is being built, and just like John D. Rockefeller’s pipelines in the 19th century, the infrastructure behind critical minerals will be an incredible wealth generator.
The next Rockefeller won’t be a miner; they’ll be a processing systems builder. Consider:
When governments realize that chasing basic sourcing of critical minerals does not automatically yield national mineral security, demand for localized processing and supply chain control will explode. The result? A private sector wealth creation event that could rival the rise of Standard Oil. The next Standard Oil won’t be an oil company—it’ll be one that controls the arteries of the clean energy economy.
Infrastructure plays generate immense wealth by controlling the essential systems that enable industries to function and scale.
Consider today’s tech giants, which create immense wealth via:
Just as Rockefeller became the richest man of his era by controlling oil’s movement, today’s wealthiest individuals and companies control the infrastructure of AI, cloud computing, e-commerce, and financial systems.
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