The tech industry talks constantly about women, diversity, and inclusion. Yet leadership and influence remain concentrated. A new global survey shows how perception gaps, not talent gaps, keep the system intact.

Global semiconductor revenue climbed 21% to $793.4 billion in 2025, as the AI infrastructure boom pushed Nvidia past $100 billion in chip sales and turned high-bandwidth memory into the market’s new battleground, according to preliminary figures from Gartner released on January 12, 2026.

From the US to Europe and the Gulf, AI investment is surging, but questions remain about monetisation, risk and who ultimately bears the cost.

The first funding rounds of 2026 reveal three different venture markets — each shaped by what investors believe they can afford to lose.

Microsoft Report Shows 64% of the UAE Uses AI, Representing the World’s Most Advanced AI Adoption System

As AI platforms reshape how content is consumed and monetised, Cloudflare is making a counter-move  - embedding consent, security, and creator protection into the Internet’s infrastructure rather than the platform layer.

From platform roll-ups to data-security deals, cybersecurity is becoming enterprise infrastructure. Funding is concentrating, disciplines are collapsing into control planes, and AI is forcing boards to treat security as a prerequisite, not an afterthought.

In-principle approval from the central bank positions regulated banks—not crypto firms—at the centre of the UAE’s emerging digital payments infrastructure.

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company has secured one of the largest private funding rounds in the sector, but faces mounting scrutiny over safety, energy use and governance as it scales.

At CES in Las Vegas, Jensen Huang didn’t just unveil “Rubin.” He reframed Nvidia as the company selling rack-scale AI factories — chips, networking, security and software bundled into one system — because the next fight is about inference cost, power, and control of the full stack.

As global fintech faced tighter regulations and capital discipline in 2025, markets with regulatory clarity outperformed. The consequences are reshaping where finance gets built.

The UAE-based AI firm and hybrid cloud provider say the new platform will let governments and large enterprises deploy “sovereign” generative AI inside their own infrastructure, keeping sensitive data on-premise.

Nvidia’s biggest investments last year were not about faster chips or higher growth. They were about preventing loss of power as AI inference overtook training and infrastructure economics began to shift.

For decades, economists have debated why technology does not deliver the productivity gains it promises. The answer today is clearer: efficiency is captured by systems and expectations, not shared with workers.

The next phase of the startup economy will be shaped less by technology and more by constraint. This article looks at how capital concentration, enterprise procurement, AI operating costs, and regulation are reshaping startup survival across the US, India, and the Middle East.

Industry leaders across AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and digital platforms outline how increasing autonomy, regulatory pressure, and energy limits are influencing technology decisions for 2026.

Meta’s acquisition of Manus, an AI agent startup with more than $120m in annual revenue, signals a shift in the AI race away from models and toward execution and monetisation.

The challenges organisations faced in 2025 were not caused by lack of innovation, but by weak foundations. AI, cybersecurity, and cloud infrastructure all exposed the same underlying problem.

Article by - Ramki Jayaraman, Managing Partner - Synarchy Consulting

It wasn’t just layoffs or funding cuts. In 2025, AI changed the cost of building tech, and everything else — hiring, investment, risk — followed.