The technology story of 2026 has moved off the screen and into the physical world. Innovation is accelerating in the power grids and chips that underpin the data center boom; in the intelligent robots that embody AI; in the agentic systems discovering new chemical compounds; and in the launch pads sending thousands of satellites into orbit.
AI needs energy to scale. That’s one reason energy technologies alone drew nearly $200 billion in investment in 2025, among the highest capital influx in any technology domain. And spending on AI infrastructure doubled in a single year. These developments show that the defining questions today are not only about what technology can do. They are also about who can build the hardware and assemble the skilled workforce to deploy AI in the real world. At the same time, huge leaps were made in cybersecurity and software development—illustrating that AI is accelerating the digital frontier, too.
McKinsey’s Technology Trends Outlook 2026 examines 14 technology trends that define 2026, expanding our coverage from last year to include two new fast-emerging domains: agentic software development and AI for scientific discovery and engineering. For easier navigation, we group the trends into three broader categories: AI revolution, compute and connectivity frontiers, and cutting-edge engineering. The lines between these domains are blurring, and much of the innovation is happening in the gaps.
The report is based on extensive quantitative analysis. We measured metrics on innovation, investment, interest, talent demand, and organizational adoption. It also draws on qualitative interviews with business leaders, policymakers, investors, and experts across sectors and geographies. The technologies included in this report were selected based on their rate of innovation, as well as their growing applicability and potential to influence how we live and work.
Four of this year’s trends are AI specific, but AI also underpins and amplifies the other ten. AI has become an accelerant in robotics, creating a new class of autonomous bots capable of interacting with the world around them. AI is reshaping software development, making coders many magnitudes more productive. AI is advancing scientific discovery, helping life sciences companies discover new drugs many times faster than before. And AI is optimizing the foundations of technology infrastructure itself, changing cybersecurity operations, and catalyzing new innovations in semiconductors. These are just a few of the ways AI is shifting the sands beneath our feet.
Beyond the AI ecosystem, many of this year’s trends are being shaped by large-scale economic, geopolitical, and workforce transitions. Scientists and engineers are discovering new possibilities in therapeutics, diagnostics, genomics, and brain science. Robotics, mobility, and immersive-reality technologies are converging to reshape how humans interact with digital and physical systems. Sustainability technologies are transforming how energy is produced, managed, and used—providing potential solutions to meet surging power demand from data centers. And quantum computing continues to advance, giving a glimpse into how it could soon solve problems that would otherwise be infeasible.
This breakneck pace of change comes with challenges. Organizations are racing to deploy AI at scale without any proven road maps. They have workforces that need upskilling, legacy systems that need updating, and networks exposed to ever-evolving security risks. They face shortages in energy, talent, and capital. Overcoming these roadblocks requires far more than just deploying technology. It requires rewiring operational models from the inside out.
Download the full report here.
