Special Report: 2026 Technology Forecast

Industry experts predict where important technologies are headed this year.

William G. Wong

Related To:

Electronic Design

March 23, 2026

2 min read

What You'll Learn

What's up with memory and processors as hyperscalers continue to grow AI data centers?
Where is Ethernet headed?
How are chiplets changing?
Will Rust make safe and secure software a reality?

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Technology continues to advance even in the face fo supply chain issues due to war and tariffs. This year we asked our contributors to focus on a single topic area to get more in-depth insights into where those technologies are headed.

This Special Report addresses a range of topics important to embedded developers from how hyperscalers are dominating the use of, as well as advances in, memory and processors, to where the ubiquitous Ethernet is headed.

We covered a lot of ground with the Chiplet Summit and the Special Report features a forward-looking article dealing with chip packaging and chiplets. This includes artificial-intelligence (AI) processors and where they're headed, too.

Finally, we looked at Rust. This programming language delivers safe and secure features that aren't found in programming langauges like C, which have been the mainstay for embedded systems. Rust is even being used to support Linux development.

You can download the full report as an eBook or you can read the individual articles online. The eBook and articles are available to Electronic Design members. Registration is fast and free.

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Download this Special Report eBook

This special report eBook is available to Electronic Design members. It's free to join. The articles in the eBook are listed below, so you can read them online, too.

Special Report: 2026 Technology Forecast eBook

Read the Special Report Articles Online

What Happens When Hyperscalers Take Their Foot Off the Accelerator?

Hyperscaler spending currently paints a rosy picture for the memory and processor markets, but gloom looms in the future.

2026 Ethernet Forecast: Full Speed Ahead

AI continues to be a driving force for Ethernet developments. This article forecasts the opportunities and challenges Ethernet technology will face in 2026 to keep up with the...

Shown are low-end, mid-range, and high-end chiplet systems (representative architectural diagrams, not drawn to scale).

Empower the Next Wave of Semiconductor Reuse Through Chiplet Realization

Unlock the future of semiconductor innovation with chiplets — enabling scalable, cost-effective designs and paving the way for a reusable chip marketplace.

Is It Make-or-Break Time for AI Processor Startups?

Mapping the fast-growing market for AI processors indicates the startup boom has peaked — or is very close to it.

Rust in Safety-Critical Systems: Predictions for 2026

As safety-critical industries move beyond experimentation and toward production-grade adoption of Rust, 2026 marks a pivotal transition from promise to practical assurance.

Some of Last Year's Forecasts

Megatrends Set to Transform the Semiconductor Industry in 2025

In the wake of AI, unprecedented demand for data and computing power is outstripping capabilities. This will drive the semiconductor industry’s return to growth, but without better...

Focus at SSD slot, type M.2 with support for NVMe, on computer motherboard.

New Memories Making Meaningful Strides

Non-volatile technologies like MRAM and particularly ReRAM are poised to finally take a major leap into the embedded-memory design space.

More Special Reports and Electronic Design's Technology Content

Electronic Design provides a weekly "Top Stories of the Week" as well as regular special reports that focus on a technology or topic important to embedded developers. We also collect content around specific topics in our TechXchanges.

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About the Author

William G. Wong

Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form.

Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.

You can visit my social media via these links:

I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.