NTT DATA has published its Technology Foresight Report 2026, identifying six trends expected to shape technology innovation as organisations across Asia-Pacific and other regions expand their use of AI and supporting infrastructure.
The report argues that organisations are moving away from standardised AI and cloud approaches towards sovereign architectures, tighter controls for autonomous systems, and new infrastructure planning for AI workloads. It positions 2026 as a turning point as adoption moves from pilots to wider operational use, describing these changes as part of an “age of mass intelligence” where businesses prioritise tools that learn, adapt and act autonomously. The report also notes that medium and long-term planning is becoming more important as firms seek to build or defend positions in global markets.
The first trend, “Human-orchestrated autonomy”, describes a stage in which intelligent systems operate at scale and speed, guided by human intent to keep decisions aligned with enterprise goals. The report emphasises transparency and governance that makes automated decisions understandable, addressing questions about accountability, auditability and control as many organisations experiment with AI agents that can carry out tasks across multiple systems. Firms have also faced challenges integrating these tools with legacy processes and risk frameworks.
“Intelligence we trust” is the second trend, with the report saying cybersecurity is evolving into a layer of adaptive intelligence that can learn from threats and respond to more complex attacks. It argues that defences must also cover autonomous AI agents, including their integrity and transparency. AI-driven security tools are becoming more common in enterprise environments, but they face scrutiny over reliability and false positives whilst attackers increasingly use AI for phishing, malware development and reconnaissance.
The third trend, “Informed infrastructure”, describes infrastructure becoming continuously intelligent, with systems optimising performance, cost and sustainability across hybrid environments that include devices, edge locations and cloud platforms. This reflects rising demand for compute resources to train and run AI models, as well as the operational reality of distributed data estates, with data residency requirements, latency constraints and energy costs all influencing where organisations run workloads.
“Sovereign silicon ecosystems” focuses on semiconductor innovation and chip supply resilience. The report says nations are building end-to-end chip ecosystems to secure supply chains and protect intellectual property, linking control over silicon to national competitiveness and computing leadership. Semiconductors have become a strategic priority as geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruption affect access to advanced manufacturing, whilst AI has increased demand for specialised hardware, raising the stakes for procurement strategies, partnerships and domestic capability building.
The report also highlights “Embodied agency and emotions”, arguing that emotionally responsive systems are emerging as social infrastructure and pointing to synthetic emotion as a factor in trust and engagement in human-AI interaction. Companies are increasingly using conversational interfaces in customer service and internal workflows, raising questions about user experience design, disclosure and ethical boundaries, particularly where systems simulate empathy or persuasion.
The sixth trend, “From illusory efficiency to sufficiency”, argues that the next phase of growth will move beyond narrow efficiency measures, linking technology strategy to resilience and operating within planetary boundaries. This reflects pressure to show progress on sustainability targets while funding major investment cycles in AI and cloud infrastructure, with energy use, hardware lifecycle management and supply chain sustainability becoming more prominent in procurement and architecture decisions.
Oliver Koeth, Managing Director Technology & Innovation DACH at NTT DATA, linked the six trends to a broader shift in how organisations evaluate technology investment. “The rise of mass intelligence shifts our focus from acceleration to significance,” said Koeth. “When emotionally aware systems, sovereign compute and trusted infrastructure come together, technology evolves into a purposeful ally, amplifying resilience and reinforcing the values that will define our shared future.”
NTT DATA expects organisations in Asia-Pacific and elsewhere to keep revising AI and infrastructure strategies around autonomy, security and sovereignty as AI systems become more embedded in business operations. The company uses the Technology Foresight Report as part of its innovation planning and says it informs how it develops technologies and services with customers worldwide.
