2026 Outlook: Revisiting Our Tech Predictions

At the beginning of 2025, FTI Consulting’s S&T Technology Practice made 7 predictions of what to expect for the year ahead. AI was the clear overarching theme of the year, with an acceleration of investment across the tech sector as an ‘AI arms race’ came into full force. As the tech battlegrounds for 2026 begin to shape-up, we reflect on what predictions we got right, what we got wrong and what is still too early to tell.

Grading our ’25 Predictions ‘At A Glance’:

Generative AI will reshape industries with multimodal models and autonomous workflows – Got it right
The future of AI infrastructure will benefit from sustainable and energy efficient data centers – Directionally right but still early
Extended reality (“XR”) will enter the mainstream, transforming digital interaction – Too early to tell
Emerging markets will lead AI democratization – Got it wrong
AI-driven infrastructure and physical AI will transform smart cities and mobility – Directionally right but still early
Synthetic data will revolutionize how we overcome data scarcity and privacy challenges – Got it right
Quantum computing will redefine computational limits – Too early to tell

Across 2026, FTI Consulting’s Technology Practice expects AI to remain the key theme, with a shift towards economics, growth challenges, and integration-led value creation. More specifically we anticipate that:

AI economics becomes a key topic

AI economics will become the main discussion at board level, increasingly focused on cost per token, real productivity gains, and margin improvement. This will lead to reduced experimentation, tighter ROI discipline, and vendor consolidation

AI sovereignty re-shapes infrastructure decisions

Geopolitical fragmentation, export controls, national AI strategies, and data residency requirements will dictate where compute is located and how models are trained and deployed

Power & memory limit AI growth

AI growth will be constrained by two major elements: (1) power and grid capacity, increasing the importance of long-term energy contracts and transmission access; and (2) shortages in AI-grade high-bandwidth memory

Telcos converge on Edge AI offering

Edge AI and telecom infrastructure will converge more clearly. Telcos will reposition as distributed AI infrastructure providers, leveraging their network footprint to offer GPU-as-a-service, private AI clusters, and edge inference capabilities

Semi-conductor competition intensifies

Hardware and architecture diversification will continue. Established providers will remain central to AI infrastructure, while custom silicon and edge inference chips gain momentum across cost-sensitive and distributed workloads

Physical AI remains focused on niche use cases

Physical AI will scale in controlled environments. Warehouse automation, industrial systems, and defence drones will see stronger deployment. However, consumer humanoid robots are unlikely to become mainstream in 2026.

AI security becomes mission-critical

AI security and resilience will become critical priorities. AI-driven cyber threats will increase, and companies will need stronger monitoring, governance and defensive AI capabilities

Value driven by AI integration rather than AI models