Every beat Frontier Decoded is building toward — 50 topics ranked by four things: subscriber pull and shareability, evergreen SEO and archive value, fit with the "zero hype, pure signal" brand, and defensibility. Tier 1 is built first; each is meant to become a living index paired with a live element.
The strongest subscriber magnets and the hardest for a generalist to copy.
| # | Topic | Beat | Why it ranks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Powering the Frontier — gigawatt data-center + energy tracker | Energy | The single biggest gap in AI coverage; every model bottlenecks on power. Could carry the whole site. |
| 2 | The compute stack, end to end (accelerators → fabs → DCs → power → cooling) | Compute | The best existing framing — make it the definitive living index. |
| 3 | Humanoid robot leaderboard (every model, benchmarked) | Robots | Inherently shareable and returnable; a natural paywall — compare 2 free, unlock the rest. |
| 4 | Live launch tracker + cadence dashboard (per provider, per year) | Rockets | The signature "instrument"; drives weekly returns. |
| 5 | Leading-edge fab & lithography index (every node, tool, yield) | Silicon | Deeply technical, hard to copy, evergreen. |
| 6 | Frontier training clusters ranked (GPUs, MW, location) | Compute | "Who has the biggest cluster" is catnip; updates constantly. |
| 7 | Critical minerals & supply-chain map (gallium, lithium, rare earths) | Supply chain | Geopolitically hot, under-covered technically. |
| 8 | Starship program tracker (every flight, catch, milestone) | Rockets | High-interest, high-frequency, screenshot-worthy. |
| 9 | NVIDIA vs the field — accelerator spec database | Compute | Perennial search demand; the comparison people actually want. |
| 10 | Satellite mega-constellation tracker (Starlink, Kuiper, GW…) | Satellites | Ties to the 14,500-sat stat; visual and ongoing. |
| # | Topic | Beat | Why it ranks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | The "money map" — where frontier capital flows (mega-rounds, capex, gov programs) | Finance | Investors subscribe to follow money. |
| 12 | China frontier mirror (parallel buildout across all beats) | Geopolitics | Few English sites do this well; big differentiator. |
| 13 | Nuclear & SMR restart tracker (deals powering AI) | Energy | Fast-moving, pairs with #1. |
| 14 | Grid interconnect queue explainer + tracker | Energy | Wonky, defensible, decision-relevant for operators. |
| 15 | Defense autonomy index (drones, counter-drone, loitering munitions) | Defense | A paying audience; underserved technically. |
| 16 | Reusable rocket economics ($/kg to orbit, by vehicle) | Rockets | The number everyone cites — own it. |
| 17 | Foundation-model release + benchmark log (frontier only) | AI | High traffic; keep it spec-first, hype-free. |
| 18 | Robotics actuators & hands teardown series | Robots | Engineering depth that builds authority. |
| 19 | Data-center water & cooling tracker | Energy | The "quiet constraint" most coverage misses. |
| 20 | HBM & advanced-packaging supply tracker (the real GPU bottleneck) | Silicon | Technical, timely, defensible. |
| 21 | Spectrum & orbital-slot filings tracker | Satellites | Regulatory edge as LEO gets crowded. |
| 22 | Lunar program scoreboard (Artemis, CLPS, China, landers) | Space | Recurring milestones, national-interest pull. |
| 23 | Interstellar & near-Earth object watch (comets, 3I/ATLAS-type) | Deep space | Rare-event virality; great for social. |
| 24 | EUV & next-gen litho roadmap (High-NA, who has what) | Silicon | Narrow, deep, hard to fake. |
| 25 | Energy per token / cost-to-train tracker | Compute | A live "compute-cost ticker" widget could embed everywhere. |
| # | Topic | Beat |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | Battery & energy-storage frontier (chemistries, gigafactories) | Energy |
| 27 | Fusion progress tracker (every startup, milestone, Q value) | Energy |
| 28 | Autonomous vehicle / robotaxi deployment map | Robots / Auto |
| 29 | Space station & LEO-economy tracker (post-ISS commercial stations) | Space |
| 30 | Undersea cable & connectivity infrastructure map | Infrastructure |
| 31 | AI chip startups scoreboard (Cerebras, Groq, Tenstorrent…) | Silicon |
| 32 | National compute & sovereign-AI programs tracker | Geopolitics |
| 33 | Launch provider profiles (specs, backlog, reuse rate) | Rockets |
| 34 | Earth-observation constellations & what they see (NISAR-type) | Earth |
| 35 | Robot cost curve (price-per-unit over time, per model) | Robots |
| 36 | Advanced manufacturing / reshoring tracker (fabs, gigafactories) | Supply chain |
| 37 | Brain-computer interface progress index (Neuralink and rivals) | Bio-frontier |
| 38 | Direct-to-cell / space connectivity tracker | Satellites |
| 39 | Deep-space missions in flight (probes, timelines, distances) | Deep space |
| 40 | Hyperscaler capex & buildout tracker (per company, per quarter) | Compute / Finance |
| # | Topic | Beat |
|---|---|---|
| 41 | Frontier predictions market (community calls on milestones) | Engagement |
| 42 | "Frontier this week" — the weekly briefing as a standing page | Newsroom |
| 43 | Rare-earth refining & processing (who controls the midstream) | Supply chain |
| 44 | Quantum computing reality-check index (qubits, error rates, claims) | Compute |
| 45 | Hypersonics & advanced propulsion tracker | Defense |
| 46 | Asteroid mining & in-space resource ventures | Space |
| 47 | Materials frontier (superconductors, novel semiconductors) | Science |
| 48 | Robotics safety, standards & regulation tracker | Robots |
| 49 | Frontier failures log (why launches/chips/robots slip) | Cross-beat |
| 50 | Glossary / "decoded" explainer library (GB200, HBM4, T-0…) | Evergreen SEO |
> Start with Tier 1 — especially #1 (energy) and #3 (humanoid leaderboard). Pair each index with a live element so it's a reason to return, not just read once. Every Tier-4 explainer (#50) is SEO fuel that links internally to the premium indexes.