Digital Lifescapes

Semiconductor forecasts rarely move enough to reshape an enterprise boardroom budget conversation. Omdia's latest worldwide market study findings does exactly that. The research firm has raised its 2026 global semiconductor revenue forecast to 94.1 percent year-over-year growth, an increase driven almost entirely by memory pricing tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. For technology executives, the number itself matters less than what sits underneath it. Applied-AI demand has now outrun the industry's capacity to produce and package the chips it needs, and Omdia expects that imbalance to persist through early 2027. The Semiconductor Forecast Revision Memory integrated circuits, DRAM and NAND combined, are now projected to account for more than 50 percent of total semiconductor revenue in 2026. That threshold has rarely been crossed in the industry's history. It marks a structural shift in where chip economics get decided. Logic used to set the pace of the industr...

The year-on-year decline in global smartphone shipments sounds like a demand story. It isn't. According to Omdia's latest worldwide market study, the 2Q26 contraction is a supply chain story wearing a demand story's clothes, and the distinction matters enormously for how executives across the technology sector should be reading this quarter's results. The culprit is not a buyer's pullback. It's a memory chip shortage that became one of the more consequential cost shocks to hit consumer electronics in years, and it is separating companies with real pricing power from those without it in ways that a single quarter's headline number cannot capture. What makes this moment instructive well beyond handset makers is the mechanism. Semiconductor Market Development A component squeeze anywhere in the memory and storage supply chain does not stay contained to memory and storage. It moves through bill-of-materials calculations, then into retail pricing, then into brand...

The worldwide server market just delivered its clearest signal yet that AI infrastructure spending has shifted from a cyclical bet to a structural commitment. IDC's latest market study shows the global server market crossing $122 billion in a single quarter, and the more interesting story sits beneath that headline number. The constraint on growth is no longer demand. It is supply. For enterprise CIOs and CFOs still treating infrastructure procurement as a discretionary line item, that distinction should change how 2026 and 2027 capital plans get built. AI Infrastructure Market Development According to IDC, server revenue growth in the first quarter of 2026 reached a 30.4 percent year-over-year increase from $94.1 billion in the same period a year earlier. That growth rate, sustained at this scale, points to AI infrastructure investment that has moved well past the early hyperscaler buildout phase. Non-x86 servers, the category dominated by GPU and other accelerated architectures, ...

The prevailing narrative around artificial intelligence (AI) has been one of relentless scale. Bigger models, bigger clusters, bigger budgets. The assumption, largely unchallenged until recently, was that raw parameter count translated directly into competitive advantage. New research from Omdia suggests it's time to retire that assumption. According to the latest market study by Omdia, parameter growth in frontier AI models has slowed to around 5 percent annually since 2021, a stark contrast to the more than hundredfold expansion seen between 2019 and 2021. Enterprise AI Market Development For executives who have been making infrastructure and investment decisions based on the assumption that AI would keep demanding ever-larger, ever-more-expensive hardware, this finding deserves serious attention. The race to the top of the model size leaderboard has, at least for now, plateaued. Crucially, Omdia's analysts are not reading this as an AI winter. Alexander Harrowell, senior pri...

Few technology sectors sit as close to the center of gravity in today's artificial intelligence (AI) economy as semiconductor manufacturing. Every AI chip that trains a frontier model, every GPU that powers a data center inference workload, and every power management IC that keeps hyperscaler facilities running traces its origins back to the global Foundry ecosystem. IDC's latest market study throws that reality into sharp relief, projecting that the broadly defined Foundry 2.0 market will surpass $360 billion in 2026, a 17 percent year-over-year gain that would have seemed optimistic even two years ago. For anyone advising boards or investment committees on technology and AI infrastructure strategy, this growth trajectory demands careful consideration. Foundry 2.0 Market Development The umbrella term covers four distinct verticals: pure-play foundry, non-memory integrated device manufacturer (IDM) production, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT), and photomask fab...

For years, security intellectual property (IP) existed in the semiconductor world as something of an afterthought; bolted on at the tail end of chip design cycles and treated as a compliance checkbox. That era is decisively over. According to the latest market study by ABI Research, the Security IP sector is entering a sharply accelerated growth phase, driven by a shift in how OEMs think about trust, compliance, and embedded protection. The message from the market is unambiguous: integrated, certification-ready security is no longer optional infrastructure; it is a competitive imperative. The explosion of connected devices across industrial, automotive, consumer, and data center environments has expanded attack surfaces. Security IP Market Development Meanwhile, regulatory frameworks worldwide are tightening, demanding demonstrable security assurance rather than self-attested claims. And looming on the horizon is the quantum computing threat, which is already forcing forward-thinking c...

Embodied AI is shifting industrial robotics from precise to perceptive — from rigid automation to adaptive execution in messy, variable production environments. For manufacturers and logistics providers, this isn't just a technology upgrade; it's a structural change in how work gets organized and business value gets created. Industrial robots have long excelled in static workflows: automotive assembly, fixed production lines, repetitive tasks. Where variability or human interaction arose, they stalled or required prohibitive engineering. Embodied AI Market Development Embodied AI changes this by closing the "sim-to-real" gap. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, AI-augmented robots have reached genuine adaptive automation with tangible ROI for early adopters. The shift rests on robust algorithms — particularly Dynamic Policy Adjustment and robotics foundation models — that learn and adapt in real time rather than following hard-coded rules. ...

 Ultra-Wideband (UWB) is quietly becoming one of the most strategic short-range wireless technologies in the market, moving from niche deployments into the mainstream of smartphones, cars, and smart spaces. As the ecosystem matures and next-generation implementations arrive, UWB is shifting from nice-to-have to a foundational capability for secure access, sensing, and high-performance device-to-device connectivity. UWB Technology Market Development Unlike Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, or legacy IEEE 802.15.4 implementations, UWB combines three powerful attributes in a single radio: secure ranging, radar-like sensing, and low-latency, high-throughput short-range data. This allows networking and IT vendors to architect experiences that blend precise location, context awareness, and rich interaction in ways traditional connectivity stacks cannot easily match. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, UWB is expected to be one of the fastest-growing wireless connectivity...

The global semiconductor industry is experiencing a historic acceleration driven by surging investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and computing power. According to the latest IDC worldwide market study, 2025 marks a defining year in which AI's pervasive impact reconfigures industry economics and propels record growth across the compute segment of the semiconductor market. Semiconductor Market Development IDC’s latest data reveals an insightful projection: The compute segment of the semiconductor market is on track to grow 36 percent in 2025, reaching $349 billion. This segment, which encompasses logic chips powering CPUs, GPUs, and AI accelerators, will sustain a robust 12 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2030. These numbers underscore not only current momentum but a structural shift driven by large-scale adoption of AI workloads spanning cloud, edge, and on-premises deployment models. The scale of investment is unprecedented. As organizations ...

The artificial intelligence (AI) server market stands at a crossroads, propelled by the dual engines of agentic AI and inferencing, even as it encounters the headwinds of global tariff pressures. As more organizations across industries race to harness AI's transformative power, the infrastructure underpinning these capabilities has become a focal point for investment, innovation, and strategic maneuvering. Recent findings from ABI Research underscore just how dynamic and lucrative this sector has become, forecasting robust growth and highlighting the technological and geopolitical forces at play. Agentic AI and Inferencing Market Development Agentic AI refers to AI systems capable of making independent decisions and taking actions to achieve specific goals, often with minimal human intervention. Inferencing is the process by which trained AI models generate predictions or decisions from new data inputs. Together, these advancements are driving a surge in demand for specialized serv...

The semiconductor industry is poised for a significant resurgence in 2025, with artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) as the primary catalysts for growth. According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), the semiconductor market is expected to experience 15 percent growth in 2025, largely propelled by the increasing demand for AI and HPC applications. This surge is not merely a continuation of existing growth trends but represents a paradigm shift in the industry's dynamics. Global Semiconductor Market Development One of the most striking statistics from the IDC study is the projected 24 percent growth in the memory segment. This exceptional increase is primarily attributed to the rising adoption of high-end products such as HBM3 and HBM3e, which are essential components for AI accelerators. The anticipated introduction of HBM4 in the latter half of 2025 is expected to further fuel this ongoing growth trajectory. Me...

The semiconductor and smartphone industry stands on the brink of a transformative era, driven by the rapid integration of Generative AI (GenAI) technology into mobile devices. According to the latest global market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), GenAI smartphone shipments are forecast to grow by 363.6 percent in 2024 alone, reaching 234.2 million units. This surge represents 19 percent of the overall smartphone market. As we look toward the future, the adoption of GenAI is anticipated to redefine mobile device user interaction. GenAI Smartphone Market Development GenAI smartphones are defined by their ability to run on-device generative AI models efficiently, thanks to a system-on-a-chip (SoC) featuring a neural processing unit (NPU) with a performance capability of 30 tera operations per second (TOPS) or more, using the int-8 data type. This technological advancement promises to enhance the mobile user experience by enabling more personalized and proactive GenAI tool f...

The past decade has witnessed an explosion in Artificial Intelligence (AI) use cases. From facial recognition software to virtual assistants, AI is rapidly reshaping our digital world. However, most of this AI processing power has resided in the public cloud, requiring a broadband internet connection and raising concerns about personal data privacy. This deployment model is about to evolve. The future of AI is the ability to function directly on our devices, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. On-Device AI Market Development The research predicts a significant growth in AI chipset shipments, reaching over 1.3 billion units by 2030.  This surge signifies a critical shift towards on-device AI, empowering smartphones, PCs, tablets, and other gadgets with the ability to process AI tasks locally. This transition is driven by two key factors. Firstly, smartphone and PC vendors are prioritizing the development of chipsets specifically designed for on-device AI,...

Soon you will start to experience Artificial Intelligence (AI) benefits everywhere -- in the public cloud, at the edge of mobile networks, and on many personal digital devices. Generative AI (GenAI) workloads have moved beyond the bounds of cloud environments and can now run on-device supported by implementing heterogeneous AI chipsets. Combined with an abstraction layer that can efficiently distribute AI workloads between processing architectures and compressed LLMs with under 15 billion parameters, these advanced chipsets can enable us to run generative AI inferencing locally. On-Device AI Market Development ABI Research estimates worldwide shipments of heterogeneous AI chipsets will reach over 1.8 billion by 2030 as personal computers, smartphones, and other form factors will increasingly ship with on-device AI capabilities. "Cloud deployment will act as a bottleneck for generative AI to scale due to data privacy, latency, and networking cost concerns. Solving these challenges...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating cloud-enabled transformation, but what if its true power lies at the network edge? Edge AI workloads, where processing happens on local devices, enable real-time decision-making, reduced latency, and enhanced privacy. From smart factories predicting equipment failure to autonomous vehicles analyzing road hazards, this is the exciting world of Edge AI. Explore the opportunities and challenges of running AI workloads at the edge, and discover how it's shaping the future of IT apps. Edge AI Market Development Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)-V processor architectures are starting to address Edge AI workloads, and this trend is set to continue throughout the decade. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, while RISC-V's penetration into AI workloads is only just beginning, growth will be steady throughout the decade, pushing RISC-V chip shipments in Edge AI (excluding TinyML) to 129 million by 2030. "...

The exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications will create demand for new devices that are purposely enabled and enhanced to deliver superior end-user experiences. Worldwide shipments of AI PCs and Generative AI (GenAI) smartphones are projected to total 295 million units by the end of 2024 -- that's up from 29 million units in 2023, according to the latest global market study by Gartner. Gartner defines AI PCs as devices equipped with dedicated AI accelerators or cores, neural processing units (NPUs), accelerated processing units (APUs), or tensor processing units (TPUs), designed to optimize and accelerate AI tasks on the device. GenAI-Enabled Device Market Development This new device platform provides improved performance and efficiency in handling AI and GenAI workloads without relying on external on-prem servers or public cloud services. GenAI smartphones are designed and equipped with hardware and software capabilities that enable integration and efficie...

The global 5G mobile communications sector continues the remarkable progress across many key markets. As of Q3 2023, the world added 537 million 5G wireless connections, bringing global totals to 1.6 billion, which represents an increase of 71 percent over the past year. This growth trajectory suggests an optimistic outlook for the future of 5G adoption according to 5G Americas, and the latest market data from Omdia research. "The global 5G landscape shows positive momentum as innovation and collaboration continue to be the mainstays for long-term progress," said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas . 5G Networks Market Development Looking ahead, Omdia forecasts that the global 5G connection base will likely reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2023 and 7.9 billion by 2028, as 5G-Advanced network improvements are implemented and work towards 6G is completed. While this represents a significant expansion, it is important to note that this growth may not be linear.  Factors such ...

The Chief Information Officer (CIO) and/or the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will guide Generative AI initiatives within the large enterprise C-Suite. They may already have the technical expertise and experience to understand the capabilities and limitations of Gen AI. They also have the authority and budget to make the necessary investments in infrastructure and talent to support Gen AI initiatives. Enterprise AI infrastructure is proven to be expensive to build, operate and maintain. That's why public cloud service provider solutions are often used for new AI use cases. AI Semiconductor Market Development Semiconductors designed to execute Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads will represent a $53.4 billion revenue opportunity for the global semiconductor industry in 2023, an increase of 20.9 percent from 2022, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "The developments in generative AI and the increasing use of a wide range AI-based applications in data c...