Why I'm Attending the 21st Annual Needham Technology, Media & Consumer Conference

Conference season is here, and this week I am at the Westin New York Grand Central for the 21st Annual Needham Technology, Media & Consumer Conference, running May 12 through 14. The reasons are specific.

The Needham TMC does not operate like a trade show. There are no keynote spectacles and no exhibition floors engineered for press coverage. The format is a 1×1 meeting structure: direct access to management, fireside chats that move past the prepared remarks, and institutional investors who are here because they are actively allocating—not observing. CEOs of companies like Riskified, Red Violet, and USA TODAY Co. are in the room and accessible. That density of direct access is difficult to replicate through any other format, and it is the primary reason the conference has remained relevant for twenty-one years.

The thematic core of this year's event reflects where the market has moved. AI integration is no longer a forward-looking qualifier on an earnings call—it is a balance-sheet reality, and the infrastructure required to support it is generating its own investment thesis. TSS and NEO Battery Materials are presenting, and both sit at the hardware layer of what is now being called physical AI: the high-performance computing deployments, the battery technology, the supply chain that makes edge compute and robotics viable at scale rather than at demonstration. That layer has been underpriced relative to the software companies that depend on it.

The supply chain dimension runs deeper than component sourcing. As of mid-2026, the regulatory pressure around foreign entities of concern is actively reshaping procurement decisions—particularly the accelerating shift toward Korean-manufactured batteries and domestically sourced defense technology. Executives navigating those constraints in real time carry intelligence that no research report captures cleanly. The hallway conversation after the fireside chat is often more useful than the fireside chat itself.

The media segment of the conference is worth watching on its own terms. USA TODAY Co. represents the clearest case study in what a legacy print organization looks like after a sustained forced transformation. LocaliQ, its digital marketing solutions platform, is the operational bet that the company's national and local reach can be monetized through identity intelligence rather than through display advertising volume. Whether that thesis is working—and at what margin—is precisely the kind of question a 1×1 conversation surfaces that a quarterly earnings call does not.

If you are attending the Needham TMC this week, find me between the fireside sessions or in the lounge. The next leg of the growth cycle is worth arguing about in person.

21st Annual Needham Technology, Media & Consumer Conference Dates: May 12–14, 2026 — Westin New York Grand Central — Host: Needham & Company