4 burning questions hanging over Nvidia's GTC summit next week

Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang.

Caroline Brehman / AFP via Getty Images

• Next week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will take the stage at its annual GTC conference.
• Investors expect updates to the new inference chip and GPU roadmaps.
• Geopolitics could shape Nvidia's future as much as demand.

Nvidia's GTC conference has become its biggest stage for outlining the future of AI.

The annual event increasingly attracts a broader crowd. At past gatherings, with Denny's pop-ups and Taiwan-inspired night markets, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has unveiled sweeping product roadmaps for its GPUs and other AI chips. It's also announced major pacts with tech giants and governments alike.

This year's event comes on the heels of a blockbuster earnings report that barely nudged the company's stock and raises questions about how long the AI spending boom can last.

Polymarket users are even wagering how many times Huang will utter phrases like "GPU" onstage.

Here's what analysts and investors will be watching:

1. A new inference chip

Inference, or running trained models, is AI's next act. Expect Nvidia to make a big statement as competitors — from cloud giants to a slew of chip startups — encroach on this space.

Huang previously teased "several new chips the world has never seen before," and The Wall Street Journal reported in February that Nvidia is readying an inference-focused product incorporating technology from AI startup Groq, with OpenAI expected to be a key customer.

The chip's design could have big supply chain implications. Inference relies heavily on memory, and with high bandwidth memory (HBM) in tight supply, investors will see whether Nvidia leans more on SRAM — a fast, on-chip memory used in inference designs — rather than solely relying on HBM.

Sid Sheth, founder and CEO of inference chip startup d-Matrix, said that while Nvidia will stay dominant in training, "inference is a different ballgame."

He added that CUDA, Nvidia's software that underpins most AI training and has locked developers into its ecosystem, is less of a moat in inference. Developers can turn to competitors other than Nvidia because running finished AI models doesn't require the same kind of programming as training them, he said.

2. Life after Rubin

Nvidia has announced its next-generation Rubin Ultra systems. Rubin is expected to require far more power than past generations, and investors will eagerly see how Nvidia manages the transition and whether cloud giants will support it, said Sebastien Naji, a research analyst at William Blair.

Naji is also listening for what comes next: the Feynman generation. The big architectural breakthrough expected here is "copackaged optics," or the use of light — not electricity — to move data between chips. This reduces power consumption and enables larger AI infrastructure clusters.

Earlier this month, Nvidia announced it secured multibillion-dollar supply agreements with optical component companies Coherent and Lumentum, signaling how central the technology could become in future systems.

3. Can agents and robots keep the AI Gold Rush alive?

As Nvidia matures, investors increasingly focus on durability rather than breakneck growth, said Brian Mulberry, chief market strategist at Zacks Investment Management.

Huang has emphasized agentic AI as the next driver of inference demand, a trend that recently reverberated across software stocks. Sheth, the d-Matrix CEO, says that's only the beginning, with voice, video, and multimodal agents that have yet to show their potential.

"We haven't even started," he said of a forthcoming inference wave.

Robotics could add yet another layer, said Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group. Sometimes seen as a longer-term bet, he noted that Nvidia reported roughly $6 billion in robotics-related revenue last quarter and is predicting an "aggressive" timetable for humanoids.

4. The geopolitics of GPUs

Huang has entered the political fray at past GTCs, and the landscape is shifting rapidly.

Nvidia halted production of H200 chips for China and shifted capacity to its next-generation Rubin platform, The Financial Times reported. At the same time, the US is weighing export restrictions on AI chips that could turn it into a gatekeeper for international sales.

With China constrained, Newman said international markets are meaningful to Nvidia, pointing to massive AI infrastructure commitments in Saudi Arabia and the UAE — though conflicts in the Middle East have raised questions about sovereign demand, supply chains, energy costs, and the pace of data center buildouts.

In a world where AI is becoming a geopolitical tool, policy could shape Nvidia's future as much as demand.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at gweiss@businessinsider.com or Signal at @geoffweiss.25. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

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Elon Musk says xAI missed talented candidates — so he's reopening the résumé stack

Elon Musk said that he is looking at xAI's interview history to scan for missed talent.

Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images

• Elon Musk said he is revisiting old résumés submitted to xAI.
• A string of cofounders have left the startup since January.
• This week, Musk acknowledged the startup's setup issues and said the same happened with Tesla.

Elon Musk is combing old interviews as high-profile employees continue to exit his AI startup.

"Many talented people over the past few years were declined an offer or even an interview @xAI. My apologies," Musk said in a Friday morning post on X.

Musk added that he and Baris Akis, who works on the xAI talent engineering team, will be "going through the company interview history and reaching back out to promising candidates."

The hiring efforts come as xAI's exodus of cofounders continues. On Thursday, Business Insider reported that Zihang Dai left xAI earlier this week, and Guodong Zhang has told people he plans to leave in the coming days.

The two departures follow the recent exits of a string of xAI cofounders, including Toby Pohlen, Jimmy Ba, Tony Wu, and Greg Yang, all of whom have left since January.

Musk launched xAI, the maker of Grok, in 2023 alongside 11 other cofounders to compete with rival frontier labs like OpenAI and Google. After Dai and Zhang's departures, only two of the 11 people who started the company with Musk in 2023 — Manuel Kroiss and Ross Nordeen — will remain.

Musk announced last month that he reorganized xAI and parted ways with some staffers. Some of the cuts have impacted workers on the company's AI white collar project, Macrohard, and Grok Imagine, its AI image and video generator, Business Insider previously reported.

Amid the cofounders' departures, Musk has also acknowledged the startup's shortfalls.

"xAI was not built right first time around, so is being rebuilt from the foundations up," Musk wrote on X on Thursday. "Same thing happened with Tesla."

On Wednesday, Musk said at the Abundance Summit that "Grok is currently behind in coding."

"The reason I was late for this was that I was just in a giant sort of all-hands on coding, going through all the things that need to happen to essentially exceed our competitors on coding, which I think we'll do," he said.

In early February, Musk announced that his space company SpaceX would acquire xAI. XAI purchased the social media platform X in March 2025.

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I've spent years visiting the BNP Paribas Open. It's still 'Tennis Paradise,' but it's no longer a hidden gem.

The author at the BNP Paribas Open 2026.

Ben Bergman/Business Insider

• Going to the BNP Paribas Open now is very different from how it was even a few years ago.
• It has become more crowded and expensive. There is also a greater emphasis on luxury.
• Even though I have mixed feelings, the grounds pass is still the best deal in sports.

I've been going to the BNP Paribas Open for nearly 20 years; long enough to remember when it felt like tennis's best-kept secret.

Set in the scenic California desert in Indian Wells, with top-notch facilities, the tournament has been voted the tennis players' favorite of the year. It is often referred to as the "fifth slam" for being the biggest tournament outside the four majors. The intimate, more laid-back experience is unique, with fans able to get within shouting distance of Naomi Osaka or Aryna Sabalenka as they practice or stretch out on the idyllic grass lawn.

Unfortunately, the secret is out. Going to the tournament now is very different from how it was even a few years ago, as it has become more crowded and expensive, making it harder to see the biggest matches.

There is also a greater emphasis on luxury, with a "Charcuterie Champagne Lounge" featuring pours at $43 and a gourmet burger stand offering an ounce of caviar for $125.

The luxurification at Indian Wells reflects something bigger than one tournament's glow-up. Tennis in the US is in the midst of a resurgence, with a record number of enthusiasts playing the sport, according to the USTA. Last year, the US Open drew more than a million fans to New York, blending intense competition with celebrity sightings, branded cocktails, and sky-high ticket prices.

Now, tournaments like the BNP Paribas Open are borrowing that playbook, betting that as interest in the sport grows beyond its traditional fan base, more spectators will pay up for a luxury, branded tennis event, even if it means longer lines and massive crowds.

As a huge tennis fan, I have mixed feelings about how much the tournament has changed.

On the one hand, it's great to see this event thriving, after it struggled so much financially that it nearly decamped to China or the Middle East in 2010. Instead, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, then the fourth-richest man in the world, stepped in to save the day, with Tennis magazine calling him "the white knight of American tennis."

I sat down with Ellison in 2011 after his big purchase, and he told me he considered it the best tournament money could buy (since Wimbledon will never be for sale).

"I couldn't be happier," Ellison told me. "I think it's a wonderful asset. And I love tennis. I play tennis five days a week."

Ellison invested more than $130 million in the facilities, building an 8,000-seat Stadium Two with a swanky Nobu to replace a rinky-dink grandstand.

As much as I enjoy indulging in Yellowtail Jalapeno, I miss the days when anyone with a grounds pass could access Stadium Two. This year, the tournament changed that policy. Only people who specifically bought tickets for Stadium Two, which could cost hundreds of dollars for the lower bowl, were allowed. Many seats remained empty at night as ticketholders grew tired of the desert sun and headed home.

This crowd shot basically shows how bad a decision it was to no longer let groundpass holders onto Stadium 2.

This comes on a day where they're expecting to break attendence records, outer courts have been packed and meanwhile S2 is empty, not fair on Svitolina/Siegemund either pic.twitter.com/4mPW7DjGmY

— Tennis Updates (@TennisUpdates26) March 8, 2026

Lines everywhere

A record 504,268 fans attended last year's tournament, a number organizers expect to be exceeded this year. 58,828 fans passed through the gates last Friday, setting a new one-day record.

The crowds at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday, March 6th, 2026.

Ben Bergman/Business Insider

Walking around the grounds has been a test of patience, with long lines for parking, food, and getting seats.

Some of the longest lines over the weekend were not even for a match. When I walked by a Lululemon-sponsored BNP Paribas Open Pop Up, it was mobbed, with some fans complaining about waiting two hours only to find the store sold out of many items.

The line to get into the BNP Paribas Open Pop Up - Lululemon

Ben Bergman/Business Insider

I was also curious to try the Drop Shot, BNP Paribas' new, made-for-Instagram pineapple-flavored tequila cocktail, which it hopes will be as popular as the US Open's Honey Deuce. But I didn't feel like waiting in another line or paying $27 for a drink. I asked some fans for their review, and they said they were not impressed by the taste but were pleased with the souvenir cup they could take home.

The Drop Shot is a new cocktail at the BNP Paribas Open, available for $27.

Ben Bergman/Business Insider

To be fair, I had similar experiences with endless lines attending the US Open and the Championships at Wimbledon in recent years. However, the appeal of Indian Wells has always been that it is a hidden gem in the desert, where you can run into a star player walking to the gym or at the grocery store.

I will never forget seeing Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal compete on outer courts in doubles in 2014. I even got to eat in the players' dining room as a member of the media and once found myself in line behind Novak Djokovic.

With the physical demands and prize money at stake in today's singles game, you would never see Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner playing doubles, and I shudder to think how long the line would be if they appeared on a smaller court.

Still 'Tennis Paradise?'

At this year's tournament, there is ubiquitous signage reminding us we are in "Tennis Paradise," a brilliant slogan chief marketing officer Philippe Dore came up with in 2016, as he was laying the groundwork for a post-Federer/Nadal era.

"We knew those GOATS were not going to be here forever, so we wanted to build an experience regardless of what happens on the competition side," Dore told me. "We want people to come, whoever's playing."

It was hard not to agree that I was in Tennis Paradise as the sun set on Friday. The desert sky was turning brilliant shades of red while I sat a few rows behind Denis Shapovalov as he grinded out a three-set win against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

The sun sets at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday, March 6, 2026.

Ben Bergman/Business Insider

Even with its new limitations, I would argue the grounds pass, which costs around $60, is still the best deal in sports. If you really want to get up close to Alcaraz and Sinner, it's a thrill to watch them practice.

Surprisingly, the parking is still free. As I was walking to my car in the expansive grass overflow lot, I heard a woman say to her friend: "Yes, it was too crowded, but I'd rather focus on the stuff I enjoyed."

I couldn't agree more.

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In defense of boring, mindless, mundane work

He worked at Google, Meta, and OpenAI. He recommends 3 steps to find success in Big Tech.

OpenAI's Michael Bolin (not pictured) previously worked at Google and Meta.

Brooks Kraft/Corbis via Getty Images

• OpenAI staffer Michael Bolin shared his three tips for succeeding in Big Tech.
• Before working at OpenAI, Bolin spent several years at both Meta and Google.
• The more you can follow these tips, "the more successful you're going to be," Bolin said on "The Peterman Pod."

He hit a tech trifecta, working at Google, Meta, and OpenAI. He has some advice for finding success in Big Tech.

Michael Bolin is the tech lead on Codex, OpenAI's coding assistant. Before joining Sam Altman's AI giant in 2024, Bolin spent almost 12 years at Meta, per his LinkedIn. Before that, he worked at Google on tools that have stood the test of time, like the company's Calendar.

On "The Peterman Pod," Bolin shared three steps for making an impact in Big Tech. While they're certainly helpful at companies like Google and Meta, the tips extend well beyond Silicon Valley to almost every white-collar worker.

His first step is personal: figure out what you like to do. "It's good to broaden that, but it's also good to be honest with yourself," Bolin said.

Bolin referenced a "hero quest" that he went on at Google. He thought there would be a challenge that all the other engineers couldn't solve that he could, he said. Bolin called it "embarrassing" because there's "something about ego" involved.

The problem with this quest was also that he didn't love the work. "I can do a lot of things, but there is a smaller subset of things that I genuinely enjoy doing," he said.

Bolin's second step was to find out what's "really valuable" to your employer.

Here, he uses the counterexample of his time at Google yet again. "I did stuff that I was really excited about, but it wasn't AdWords for Google or anything like that," he said.

Finally, workers should find the intersection between Bolin's first and second steps — and then lean into it.

That intersection might not be in your current workplace, something that Bolin calls a "challenge." To get ahead, workers might have to "go somewhere else to make that happen."

The steps are consistent, no matter where you're working. Know what you want, know what your employer wants, and live in the cross-section of the two.

"The more that you can do that, the more successful you're going to be," Bolin said.

Do you work in Big Tech? Contact the reporter from a non-work email and device at hchandonnet@insider.com, or on Signal at henrychand.30

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How rage room happy hours became all the rage

Corrie Aune for BI

For her 35th birthday, Deja Monet decided she wanted to break something. So on a Tuesday afternoon in March, she and her boyfriend headed to The Ragery, a "rage room" on Manhattan's Lower East Side, grabbed a helmet and a pair of googles, and picked up a sledgehammer.

What was so stressful about Monet's life that she'd spend the next half hour taking aim at stacks of plates, an old computer monitor, and a keyboard?

"Work," Monet said, without missing a beat.

Monet, a special-ed high school teacher, clarified that the kids aren't the problem. It's the rest of it: the endless paperwork, shifting lesson plans, and constant assessments.

Inside the rage room, Monet was tentative at first, but then entered a flow state, conjuring up something that was bothering her before taking each swing. Then: Boom! She'd never done anything like this before, and it was thrilling. A half hour later, "it looked like an explosion had happened," she said.

The session, Monet said, did the trick, at least temporarily. "It was just this huge sense of calmness," Monet said.

Rage rooms and ax-throwing studios aren't a new concept. But in an era when American workers are stressed, facing layoffs, stuck in jobs they don't like, and worried their careers could turn obsolete, they're having a moment. They're finding a niche as venues for corporate team-building events and becoming after-work hangout spots where coworkers can bond and let off a little steam.

At The Ragery, corporate bookings have more than doubled from a year ago, as of January, said Bogdan Zhukovskyi, its co-owner. For individuals, packages range from $78.38, which covers 15 minutes in a room outfitted with four ceramic items and one "small office tech," to $522.50 for a 45-minute "VIP Experience," where the room can be set up like a full office, and customers are free to take a swing at anything in sight.

Customers are encouraged to personalize their setup. Zhukovskyi has seen coworkers come in with pictures of their bosses, which they affix onto the objects and antique detritus piled up in the rooms. He recalled one customer showing up with a stack of email printouts, which he then got to work reducing to confetti.

Rage rooms and ax-throwing studios are having a moment. The Ragery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side, offers packages ranging from $78.38 to $522.50.

Corrie Aune for BI

Experts I talked to added a note of caution for anyone seeking this kind of therapy: smashing something may feel good in the moment — but it doesn't necessarily make you less angry.

---

It's a strange moment in the American workplace: morale is slipping, jobs are disappearing, and yet hardly anyone is quitting.

Worker sentiment was down in February for the sixth straight month, with drops in motivation and commitment across industries and job types, according to a report from the ADP Research Employee Motivation and Commitment Index. Meanwhile, federal data shows quit rates are hovering near their lowest levels in a decade.

Compounding workplace stress, many top companies have embraced a more "hardcore" management culture, raising performance expectations, increasing accountability, and mandating sweeping return-to-office policies.

The traditional after-work happy hour has meanwhile disappeared from a lot of workplaces, in part because people are drinking much less. (The US drinking rate just hit a 90-year low, according to Gallup.) The American Psychological Association reports that loneliness and emotional disconnection "have become a defining feature of life in America."

Younger workers, especially, are embracing a more intentional and fulfilling way to connect with colleagues, often through physical activities like cold plunges, running clubs — and rage rooms, which offer a novel experience where you can bond, get your blood flowing, and, perhaps, release some pent-up feelings.

At the Rage Cage in Brooklyn, where packages range from, $69.99 to $224.99, patrons don white jumpsuits to smash their way through plates and an assortment of small and large vintage electronics.

"We always hear 'I didn't think I needed that, but I feel so much better now,'" said Jeffrey Yip, its owner. "Even if you think you're not stressed out, and you come and break things, you'll feel better."

Yip recalled one man who showed up wearing a three-piece suit and announced, "I got laid off. I need this."

American workers are embracing alternatives to traditional "happy hour" meetups. These often involve physical activities like cold plunges, running clubs, and visits to rage rooms.

Corrie Aune for BI

It's not just employees who are embracing these venues; companies also see the appeal of giving employees an outlet for their desire to smash things.

At ax-throwing chain Bury the Hatchet, which has locations across the country and where a one-hour session costs around $48 per person, corporate events now make up the majority of business.

In some cases, companies will rent out the facility for three hours, throw for two, and then dedicate an hour to a meeting, said Jay Veloso, the chain's chief marketing officer. "They're like, 'Let's take it out of the whole professional sit-down atmosphere and let's do something fun, but also still have a professional part about it," Veloso said.

For those with something specific to work out, the venue allows throwers to pin images representing all kinds of irritants — an overbearing manager, say, or a company's much-despised software — to different rings on the target.

"Ax-throwing is cheaper than therapy," Veloso said.

Perhaps. But are the benefits even a little bit comparable?

---

It's well-established that exercise and socializing can help relieve stress, improve resilience, and boost your mood. Swinging a sledgehammer or an ax can also be a fun new thing to try — a welcome break from being too sedentary and too much time spent on our phones.

"The digitalization of our lives leaves us craving something more hands-on — almost barbaric — to quench that inner thirst," Zhukovskyi said.

That was the case for Ally Temsey, 25, who works in social media marketing in New York and recently hung out with three coworkers for the first time outside of work.

Rage room devotees say the experience feels cathartic. Experts caution there's a risk of "exacerbating angry feelings."

Corrie Aune for BI

They ended up visiting a rage room, which they saw as a welcome excuse to escape social media and their phones. It also gave them an opportunity to hang out and show some vulnerability.

"We already had a great relationship, but this built it even stronger because we understand each other's pressure," Temsey said. "You're being human, and you're remembering that we are people outside of our jobs."

But while rage rooms are fine as a novel experience or for team bonding, experts stress that they are not a sustainable or especially effective way to manage anger.

"It keeps the angry thoughts at the surface, where you're thinking about them, because you're acting on them," said Ryan Martin, a psychologist and author of multiple books on anger management who's known as "the Anger Professor."

"If you're relying on that as your anger management strategy," Martin said, it could end up "exacerbating angry feelings and making you more aggressive."

That concern was echoed by Brad Bushman, a professor at Ohio State University who has testified before Congress about youth violence.

He ticked off yoga, breathwork, and mindfulness as more effective strategies for managing anger without suppressing unpleasant feelings.

---

Monet didn't appreciate the intensity of her experience at The Ragery until a few hours after her visit, when she noticed how sore her muscles were.

She's not sure she'll become a regular — so much of the thrill was in the novelty. But she can see herself going back at least a second time.

"I can see it as an alternative for people who want to seek out other outlets to express their emotions in a positive way," Monet said, adding that it was also a nice thing to share with her 33-year-old boyfriend, Joaquin Terrero.

Terrero, a lawyer, had tagged along to help celebrate Monet's birthday. He ended up thoroughly enjoying the experience. He "couldn't stop smiling after" and left feeling "lighter in spirit and energized," he said.

Of course, work isn't the only source of strain that might leave one wanting to throw something.

Work stress and heartbreak are among the top reasons people visit rage rooms, the studios say. As one person put it: "No one throws harder than a person who's just been broken up with."

Corrie Aune for BI

Everyday problems — especially heartbreak — have long fueled the smashing business and continue to be a driving factor for people who break objects in their free time.

Nearly every rage room owner I spoke to said that getting dumped was the top reason people give when they walk through the door. February, in particular, was a busy month for heartbreak victims.

"There's a lot of catharsis in chucking a piece of metal at a chunk of wood, and it's not doing us any use keeping anger inside," Jackson Pierce, a supervisor at Kick Axe Throwing in Brooklyn, said of the studio's appeal. "Here, you allow all that negative energy to flow through your body and out through the ax."

"And no one throws harder than a person who's just been broken up with."

---

Ana Altchek is a reporter on Business Insider's careers and leadership desk.

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3 trading card games to collect if you're looking to diversify beyond Pokémon

Yu-Gi-Oh! has been around for just as long as Pokémon.

picture alliance/picture alliance via Getty Images

• Pokémon's popularity has boosted trading cards as investments.
• One Piece cards have soared in demand, with rare cards selling for thousands.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! is set to celebrate its 30th anniversary, maintaining its strong presence in the collectibles market.

The power of Pokémon is drawing new collectors to card games as investment opportunities.

The franchise is dominating the collectible card market at the moment, and the spotlight is widening to include other trading card games.

Business Insider spoke to Elizabeth Gruene, the general manager of pop culture at Professional Sports Authenticators, or PSA, which authenticates and grades trading cards based on their condition. PSA got its start in grading sports cards, but a major flip in recent years has seen trading card games like Pokémon taking over the bulk of its business.

While rare Pokémon cards are selling for millions in some instances, its competitors are catching on as collectors look for their next up-and-coming investment. It's driven a spike in popularity in three brands that are already household names in pop culture.

"Many collectors are looking to diversify their collections or discover emerging categories before they reach the level of demand we're seeing with Pokémon," Gruene said.

From animated series that millennials grew up watching to a live-action Netflix show, these franchises are attracting both game players and investors alike to pick up a pack of their cards. Some of those cards have sold for thousands on eBay, Gruene said.

These are the trading card games that are popping off among collectors.

One Piece

Netflix released a live-action "One Piece" series in 2023.

Roger Kisby/Getty Images for Netflix

The "One Piece" trading card game, released in 2022, is inspired by the anime series that has been on screens since 1999. In the nearly four years since being on shelves, the card game has had a meteoric rise in popularity.

The number of One Piece cards that PSA has graded spiked around 700% over the last six months, Gruene said — a level of growth only comparable to that of Pokémon in 2022. PSA graded 144,000 One Piece cards in February alone, compared to about 10,000 for all of 2022.

Despite being new to the collectible trading card game scene, One Piece is already fetching high prices on the resale market. The Los Angeles Dodgers gave away a One Piece card featuring the show's protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, in July 2025. It later sold on eBay for $15,000 in November, The Athletic reported.

Magic: The Gathering

A pristine condition Black Lotus card from Magic: The Gathering sold for $3 million in April 2024.

Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images

Magic: The Gathering is one of the oldest modern trading card games on the market. Its debut set, which was released in 1993, sparked a boom of card games in the 1990s. Although it's been popular among collectors and gamers for decades, its investment potential is a major driver in its current status with newbies.

Pokémon isn't the only franchise capable of fetching millions for a single card. A pristine condition Black Lotus card from Magic: The Gathering sold for $3 million in April 2024.

The renewed interest in Magic: The Gathering in recent years is partly due to releasing lines of more collectible cards and collaborations with other franchises like Marvel and Final Fantasy, Gruene told Business Insider.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Yu-Gi-Oh! has been around for just as long as Pokémon.

picture alliance/picture alliance via Getty Images

The collectible world can't stop talking about Pokémon's 30th anniversary this year, but one of its biggest competitors is set to celebrate the same milestone in 2026.

Yu-Gi-Oh! exploded in popularity after the anime series released in 2000. Months later, the trading card game quickly became highly sought after. Since then, it has maintained a commanding presence in the collector scene and been the subject of new movies, TV spinoffs, and card packs.

"Nostalgia is a major driver of collectibles," Gruene said.

There has been chatter that some Yu-Gi-Oh! cards have sold for millions in private sales. One of its most expensive cards ever sold is a one-of-one card made for a Make-A-Wish recipient. The "Tyler the Great Warrior" card sold for around $300,000 on eBay in 2023.

Although you won't find a card that rare at your local Costco, that doesn't mean a pack from the store couldn't hold valuable finds. As more people catch on, these trading card games are getting cleared from their shelves.

"The whole world is starting to realize just how popular the franchises are," Gruene said.

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