University of Kwazulu-Natal

Ai Set To Reshape Global Tech Infra In 2026 Says Trendforce

Bonisiwe Shabane
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ai set to reshape global tech infra in 2026 says trendforce

TrendForce has identified 10 key technology trends that will define the tech industry's evolution in 2026. The highlights of these findings are outlined below: AI Chip Competition Intensifies as Liquid Cooling Gains Widespread Adoption in Data Centers In 2026, the high demand for AI data center construction—fueled by increased capital spending by major North American CSPs and the rise of sovereign cloud projects worldwide—is anticipated to boost AI server shipments by... NVIDIA, the leading name in AI today, will face stronger competition ahead. AMD plans to challenge NVIDIA by introducing its MI400 full-rack solution, which mirrors NVIDIA’s GB/VR systems and is aimed at CSP clients.

Meanwhile, major North American CSPs are increasing their in-house ASIC development. In China, geopolitical tensions have sped up the drive for technological self-sufficiency, with companies like ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, and Cambricon boosting efforts to create their own AI chips. This is set to intensify the global competition. Thermal design power (TDP) per chip is increasing rapidly as AI processors become more powerful, jumping from 700W for NVIDIA’s H100 and H200 to over 1,000W for the upcoming B200 and B300. This increase in heat output is leading to a widespread adoption of liquid-cooling systems in server racks, with usage expected to reach 47% by 2026. Artificial intelligence is set to reshape the global technology landscape in 2026, according to new projections from market intelligence firm TrendForce.

The company has outlined 10 emerging trends that will redefine data center architectures, semiconductor development, and cloud infrastructure worldwide, driven by escalating AI workloads and geopolitical shifts that are accelerating competition in advanced computing. TrendForce expects AI server shipments to grow more than 20% year-over-year in 2026 as hyperscalers in North America increase capital spending and as sovereign cloud initiatives expand across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. This surge marks a new phase of infrastructure investment in which AI models, GPUs, and distributed computing architectures dictate the pace of global data center transformation. The competitive landscape is evolving quickly. NVIDIA remains the dominant supplier of AI accelerators, but the report finds that rivals are preparing more aggressive challenges. AMD is expected to introduce its MI400 full-rack solution, designed to compete directly with NVIDIA’s GB and VR system architectures.

North American cloud providers are simultaneously pushing deeper into custom ASIC development to optimize performance for their own AI clusters, while China’s technology firms accelerate in-house chip programs in response to geopolitical constraints. Companies such as Huawei, Baidu, Tencent, Cambricon, and ByteDance are expected to increase investment in domestic AI silicon, intensifying the global race for processor leadership. With more powerful chips comes substantially higher heat output. TrendForce highlights that thermal design power for leading AI processors has already climbed from 700 watts in NVIDIA’s H100 generation to more than 1,000 watts in upcoming models such as the B200 and B300. By 2026, liquid cooling is projected to be incorporated into nearly half of all AI server deployments. Cloud providers are evaluating multiple cooling strategies, though cold-plate liquid cooling remains the dominant medium-term solution.

Some, including Microsoft, are experimenting with chip-level microfluidic cooling to push thermal efficiency further. TrendForce has identified 10 key technology trends that will define the tech industry's evolution in 2026. The highlights of these findings are outlined below: AI Chip Competition Intensifies as Liquid Cooling Gains Widespread Adoption in Data Centers In 2026, the high demand for AI data center construction—fueled by increased capital spending by major North American CSPs and the rise of sovereign cloud projects worldwide—is anticipated to boost AI server shipments by... NVIDIA, the leading name in AI today, will face stronger competition ahead.

AMD plans to challenge NVIDIA by introducing its MI400 full-rack solution, which mirrors NVIDIA’s GB/VR systems and is aimed at CSP clients. Meanwhile, major North American CSPs are increasing their in-house ASIC development. In China, geopolitical tensions have sped up the drive for technological self-sufficiency, with companies like ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, and Cambricon boosting efforts to create their own AI chips. This is set to intensify the global competition. Thermal design power (TDP) per chip is increasing rapidly as AI processors become more powerful, jumping from 700W for NVIDIA’s H100 and H200 to over 1,000W for the upcoming B200 and B300. This increase in heat output is leading to a widespread adoption of liquid-cooling systems in server racks, with usage expected to reach 47% by 2026.

TAIPEI, Nov. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- TrendForce has identified 10 key technology trends that will define the tech industry's evolution in 2026. The highlights of these findings are outlined below: AI Chip Competition Intensifies as Liquid Cooling Gains Widespread Adoption in Data Centers In 2026, the high demand for AI data center construction—fueled by increased capital spending by major North American CSPs and the rise of sovereign cloud projects worldwide—is anticipated to boost AI server shipments by... NVIDIA, the leading name in AI today, will face stronger competition ahead.

AMD plans to challenge NVIDIA by introducing its MI400 full-rack solution, which mirrors NVIDIA's GB/VR systems and is aimed at CSP clients. Meanwhile, major North American CSPs are increasing their in-house ASIC development. In China, geopolitical tensions have sped up the drive for technological self-sufficiency, with companies like ByteDance, Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei, and Cambricon boosting efforts to create their own AI chips. This is set to intensify the global competition. Thermal design power (TDP) per chip is increasing rapidly as AI processors become more powerful, jumping from 700W for NVIDIA's H100 and H200 to over 1,000W for the upcoming B200 and B300. This increase in heat output is leading to a widespread adoption of liquid-cooling systems in server racks, with usage expected to reach 47% by 2026.

This article was featured in the Think newsletter. Get it in your inbox. A year in tech can feel like a decade anywhere else. Think about it: a year ago, we were discussing how ChatGPT wasn’t able to count the number of “r”s in “strawberry.” Reasoning models from Chinese frontier labs (like DeepSeek-R1) hadn’t taken the world by... Claude’s dedicated coding agent didn’t exist yet. IBM’s Granite 3.0 had only just arrived.

And the agent conversation was only beginning: MCP had just gained traction in the spring, with a notable endorsement from Sam Altman. Meanwhile, in the world of infrastructure, chips and compute resources were becoming scarce, giving new territories a competitive advantage. AI in 2026: Scalable Dreams and Potential Pitfalls As we look toward 2026, AI continues its upward trajectory, promising economic expansion and technological breakthroughs, yet grappling with geopolitical tensions and infrastructure hurdles. This article dives into the anticipated scaling of AI models, the challenges posed by power demand in data centers, and the US-China tech race. Key developments like Nvidia's strategic acquisitions and OpenAI's ambitious Stargate project illustrate a tech landscape rife with opportunities and obstacles alike.

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