The SaaS conundrum – the death or rebirth of software?

Kilian Niemarkt (Senior Client Portfolio Manager, RBC BlueBay Asset Management) examines whether AI will structurally weaken SaaS business models or ultimately strengthen them through smarter, more integrated platforms.

• Software leadership has recently reversed: in 2025, Adobe and Salesforce fell >25%, while Nvidia surged—signalling a market rotation back to infrastructure.

• Agentic AI enables firms to build tools in-house at near-zero marginal cost, threatening seat-based pricing and traditional vendor lock-in.

• A competing path is “integration not replacement,” where AI enhances SaaS workflows and lowers development costs, reshaping economics rather than eliminating platforms.

Explore the full note for the key inflection points to monitor across SaaS, cloud and AI infrastructure.