2023 Rewind: 26 Key Insights from Last Year

Yuri Khodjamirian, CFA
By Yuri Khodjamirian, CFA
CIO
December 8, 2023
From technological leaps to socio-economic shifts, we unwind the key highlights of this year that will define the landscape of 2024 and the years ahead.
  1. Ferrari sells just 10,000 cars per year, compared to 8.4 million sold by Volkswagen. Bloomberg
  2. US manufacturing wages were 40x more expensive than those in China in 1997, today that number is only 4x. Haver AnalyticsSlide1-Feb-01-2024-03-17-07-4120-PM
  3. At one point in 2018, TikTok bought 25% of all the ads on Facebook's iOS (Apple) network. Reuters

  4. As of 2022, streaming represents 67% of the global music industry revenue, up from only 3% in 2010. IFPITOLL Blog Charts - Why tech is not a monopoly - white background-1

  5. 83% of the top 100 generic medicines have no US manufacturing source. Cortellis

  6. The US has gotten a D grade or worse from the American Society of Civil Engineers for 19 straight years, until last year. ASCE26 Insights - blue background

  7. Visa is accepted in 170 of the world’s 195 countries. Visa

  8. Construction spending related to manufacturing in the US has gone parabolic after years of stagnation, especially in real terms. Census Bureau

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  9. Today large cap pharma sits on an estimated $838bn of dry powder, enough to buy 83% of the biotech index. Tema

  10. The industrial sector used to be 14% of the S&P 500 index in 1980, today it represents just 8%. Bloomberg

  11. Mining investment needs to go back to historic highs to hit net zero commitments. Wood Mackenzie26 Insights - blue background - 4

  12. In the last ten years $1.3 trillion has been invested in technology venture capital in OECD countries. OECD

  13. More people now search for Loro Piana shoes than Tod’s. Google Trends
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  14. The number of new drugs approved by the FDA in 2022 was double the amount approved in 2010. FDA

  15. In 1985, Michael Jackson, acquired ATV Music Publishing, which gave him the copyrights to nearly 250 Beatles songs. Billboard

  16. In 2001 it cost $100 million dollars to sequence the human genome, today that cost is <$1,000 dollars. NHGRI
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  17. An AI server uses 8x more working memory (DRAM) and 3x storage memory (NAND) than a classic server. Lam Research

  18. TSMC’s (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) Fab 18 in Taiwan produces a quintillion transistors every six months. That is more units than has ever been produced in all other factories everywhere in the history of the world. Wired

  19. It took five days for ChatGPT to hit 1 million users, a feat Instagram achieved in 2.5 months and Netflix three and a half years. Business InsiderSlide2-Feb-01-2024-05-37-16-8860-PM

  20. “A luxury brand must have far more people who know it and dream it than people who buy it.” Jean-Noël Kapferer in ‘The Luxury Strategy’ Luxury Strategy

  21. Panama Canal water levels hit the lowest point in two decades this summer forcing some ships to offload up to 40% of their cargo. Panama Canal
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  22. There are just 200,000 Birkin bags in circulation, since the first one was produced in 1984. Bloomberg

  23. In 1920 there were 180 class I railroads in North America – today there are just six. AAR
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  24. According to the latest estimates US corporates need to refinance $3.1 trillion of debt in the next five years. Moody’s

  25. Walmart crossed 100,000 sellers on its marketplace. Marketplace Pulse

  26. Everything highlighted in red is an ad. Tema
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