"2026 Tech Trends Revealed by DIGITIMES: Decoding the Industry Amid Global Uncertainty"

ashley19241
Dec 17, 2025
2 min read

Today, DIGITIMES hosted its flagship “Tech Trends 2026” forum, revealing the top ten trends shaping semiconductors, AI servers, emerging energy, mobile communications, and more. The event drew over 1,500 corporate decision-makers, providing clear guidance for navigating a rapidly changing tech landscape.

In his opening speech, DIGITIMES GM Su Yu-Cheng noted that with NVIDIA surpassing Apple as the world's most valuable tech company, the industry has entered a new AI-driven era. Amid ongoing geopolitical and supply chain challenges, Taiwan's role in the global tech ecosystem remains a key strategic focus. With 27 years of experience analyzing Asian supply chains, DIGITIMES aims to help enterprises identify industry pathways and plan their next moves.

The 10 key tech trends for 2026:

AI Powers Semiconductor Growth – Generative AI drives global chip revenue into double-digit growth and sparks a surge in acquisitions. AI-specific ASICs emerge as critical enablers.
EV Competition Moves to Intelligent Driving – Global EV growth slows from 21.8% in 2025 to 15.2% in 2026, shifting focus to autonomous driving, with L2+ penetration expected to reach 60% by 2030.
GW-Scale AI Data Centers & Low-Carbon Energy – AI data centers' energy demand hits GW-scale, accelerating distributed, low-carbon energy adoption; by 2030, >70% of global data centers will use low-carbon power.
Satellite-to-Device Connectivity – Smartphones and vehicles increasingly rely on satellites for messaging and connectivity, even without traditional networks.
ASIC vs. GPU AI Server Race – Cloud providers compete for compute power; AI server shipments exceed 2.5 million units, with high-end GPU and ASIC servers driving market dynamics.
HVDC & Liquid Cooling Surge – 800V DC architectures and liquid cooling penetration surpass 50%, transforming AI server and data center power design.
AI PCs Go Mainstream – AI PCs reach >50% penetration by 2026, with Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, and China as major production hubs. Global notebook shipments expected to exceed 200M units by 2029.
AI-Driven 6G – AI everywhere powers next-gen networks; telecoms move toward Fixed-Mobile-Satellite Convergence, enabling the “new three-network” model.
GenAI Smartphones Plateau, Smart Glasses Rise – Smartphone growth slows to 500M units in 2026, while AI assistants integrated with smart glasses enable hands-free productivity.
AI Glasses Enter the Spotlight – Apple, Samsung, and other majors enter the AR/AI glasses market in 2026, marking a key turning point; wider adoption expected by 2029.

As the global tech industry faces AI-driven transformation, geopolitical turbulence, and energy transitions, DIGITIMES continues to provide data-driven insights and strategic guidance to help companies capture growth opportunities and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market.

Source of Information: Twlo TA