The IPO market is entering uncharted territory in 2026, with potential listings from hectocorns in the AI and space sectors representing an estimated $1.4 trillion in combined market cap – raising timing and attention questions for all other companies on the path to IPO. Chris Weekes, Managing Director at TD Cowen, talks with Orrick’s Albert Vanderlaan about how these mega-cap IPOs will reshape the capital markets landscape, the resurgence of SPACs, and the sectors drawing the most investor attention – from defense tech and AI infrastructure to nuclear energy and quantum computing. Chris Weekes Last year was the year of the billion-plus IPOs. This year is the year of the mega IPO. Albert Vanderlaan Hi, my name is Albert Vanderlaan and I'm pleased to be back here once again with Chris Weekes, managing director at TD Cowen, which is a division of TD Securities. Chris Weekes Good to be back with you. I have about 25 years in the industry – equity capital markets. I currently run our tech, industrials, and equity capital markets, as well as our SPAC business. Albert Vanderlaan We're sitting here a few days after the conflict in the Middle East has kicked off here. Would love to get an initial impression of what you're seeing in the markets; what do we think this is going to do from an overall outlook perspective as we look at 2026? Chris Weekes I think we launched the attacks on Saturday, and the market is across the board flat to actually up a little bit as I was walking in here. There was a bout of volatility for sure – the S&P dropped about 3% – but then we’re bouncing back. I think we're up about 100 basis points today. So, while there's some intraday volatility, overall it seems