Which frontier technologies matter most for companies in 2026?

McKinsey's sixth annual report groups 14 frontier technology trends into three broad categories, highlighting a major shift of technology moving from digital screens into the physical world.

AI Revolution

1. Agentic software development: Systems writing and managing code autonomously.
2. Agentic AI: Autonomous workflows executing end-to-end tasks.
3. AI for scientific discovery and engineering: Accelerating new materials and drug design.
4. AI infrastructure and model architectures: Custom silicon and scaling data centers.

Compute & Connectivity Frontiers

5. Application-specific semiconductors: Tailored chips optimized for inference.
6. Cybersecurity and trustworthy systems: Defending against a surge in zero-day exploits.
7. Advanced connectivity: High-performance networks bridging gaps.
8. Immersive-reality technologies: Spatial computing and AR/VR integration.
9. Quantum technologies: Next-generation processing capabilities.

Cutting-Edge Engineering

10. Future of robotics: Intelligent machines deployed in logistics and factories.
11. Future of mobility: Autonomous vehicles and advanced transit systems.
12. Future of space technologies: Thousands of new satellites and launch ecosystems.
13. Future of life sciences and bioengineering: Breakthrough therapeutics and synthetic biology.
14. Future of energy and sustainability technologies: Power grids scaling up to support data center demands.

Key Insights & Trends

• Investment doubling: Investments are on track to more than double in 2026 for agentic software, AI infrastructure, scientific AI, space tech, and robotics.
• Adoption vs. Returns: While 89% of organizations use AI regularly, only 37% report a positive EBIT impact, and 93% exceed budgets.
• The Power Bottleneck: AI data center electricity demand is surging, threatening major grid constraints globally.