AI Industry Shifts to Cost‑Focused Orchestration and Critical‑Mineral Supply Chains

Industry leaders say the AI race is moving beyond building ever‑larger models toward managing cost, control and compute. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas highlighted that value now lies in the orchestration layer that routes tasks to the most efficient models, increasingly incorporating open‑source alternatives. Benchmarks are giving way to real‑world performance and expense metrics, with predictions that open‑weight models will dominate token usage within two years.

At the same time, the expanding AI ecosystem is driving demand for the critical minerals that power chips, robotics and electric‑vehicle motors. Canada, rich in rare‑earth elements and backed by a national Critical Minerals Strategy, is positioning itself as a secure supplier. Partnerships such as Aclara Resources with Stanford’s Mineral‑X and Argonne Lab are using AI to locate deposits and optimise processing, aiming to reduce reliance on China and boost domestic production. The sector already contributes roughly $40 billion to Canada’s GDP and supports about 110,000 jobs.