Day 1 at CES 2026 followed a familiar script.

The biggest names in tech showed up with serious announcements. The press releases were loaded with specs. The keynotes were packed with ambition. And yet, as always, what people talked about most wasn’t the silicon. It was the spectacle.

Nvidia, AMD, and Intel all used the opening day to stake their claims in the next phase of computing and AI. But the moments that stuck were the robots, the Star Wars characters, and Jensen Huang’s now-famous mechanical sidekicks.

That contrast is telling.

The AI Arms Race Is Now Physical

If there was one clear signal from Day 1, it’s that AI is moving out of the abstract and into the physical world.

Nvidia’s focus on what it calls “physical AI” set the tone. Less chatbots, more machines. Less theory, more real-world application. From robotics to autonomous driving, the message was consistent: AI is no longer just software. It’s infrastructure.

This is a meaningful shift. For years, AI has lived mostly on screens. CES 2026 is showing us what happens when it starts walking, driving, and working.

Chips Are Cool Again

There was a time when chip announcements were the headline. Then they became background noise. This year, they’re back in focus.

AMD, Intel, and Nvidia are all clearly positioning for a renewed battle around performance, efficiency, and AI acceleration. The laptop and personal computing category, which had started to feel stagnant, suddenly has momentum again.

What’s notable isn’t just that new processors are coming. It’s that everyone is framing them around AI by default. Not as an add-on. As the core reason to upgrade.

That’s a big change in posture, and it suggests the industry believes this cycle might actually drive behavior, not just headlines.

Robots Everywhere, for Everything

Robots were impossible to miss on Day 1. From humanoid machines designed for manufacturing to home assistants and autonomous vehicles, the show floor is clearly leaning into automation with a human face. Boston Dynamics. LG. Uber. Hyundai. Different use cases, same direction of travel.

This isn’t novelty anymore. It’s positioning. The companies that get this right are trying to normalize robots as part of everyday life, not future tech.

Whether consumers are ready for that is a separate question.

Entertainment Is Still the Shortcut to Attention

For all the serious talk about AI platforms and manufacturing automation, some of the loudest reactions on Day 1 came from entertainment-driven moments.

Star Wars characters on stage. Lego announcing a new smart play platform. Delta branding the Sphere. These aren’t small activations. They’re strategic. They’re designed to cut through.

And they work.

CES has always been as much about emotion as innovation. Day 1 was a reminder that even in an AI-heavy year, fandom, nostalgia, and spectacle still move the needle.

The Throughline: Bigger, Bolder, and More Tangible

Step back and a pattern emerges.

AI is becoming physical. Chips are becoming strategic again. Robots are moving from concept to deployment. Entertainment brands are embedding themselves deeper into the tech narrative. And everyone is trying to make their innovation feel real, not theoretical.

That tells you something about where the industry thinks the audience is.

Less impressed by demos. More interested in outcomes.

Day 1 didn’t feel subtle. It felt intentional. And if this tone holds, CES 2026 may end up being remembered less for any single product and more for the moment when tech collectively decided to get out of the cloud and back into the world.