McKinsey says investment across five technology areas could end 2026 at more than double the 2025 level, according to its McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2026 report.
The five areas are agentic software development, AI infrastructure and model architecture, the use of AI in scientific research and engineering, space technologies, and robotics.
The firm bases that assessment on investment volumes recorded in the first half of 2026 and an extrapolation of current growth rates for the full year. At the same time, McKinsey notes that data on completed investment deals should be viewed more as an indicator than as a forecast.
The study covers 14 technology trends in total. McKinsey expects funding to increase versus 2025 across nearly all of the areas under review, with advanced connectivity infrastructure the only exception.
The report also points to infrastructure challenges tied to the expansion of AI. McKinsey estimates that by 2030, US data centers serving AI workloads could consume as much electricity as California uses today. It adds that data centers may be built faster than the transmission lines, substations and transformers needed to supply them with power.
Another challenge identified by the firm is the rising volume of software code generated with AI. According to McKinsey, that code is being produced faster than specialists can review, test and deploy it safely.
To assess the 14 technology areas, McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2026 examined indicators including investment, patents, scientific publications, search queries, media coverage and demand for specialists.
