Megatrends in the Global Technology Industry by the End of 2025: The AI Infrastructure Race and the Turning Point of Next-Generation Computing Paradigms
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The AI Infrastructure Investment Boom Reshaping the Global Technology Ecosystem
In the second half of 2025, the scale of AI infrastructure investments by global tech companies has surged by 340% compared to the previous year, marking the largest in history. According to market research firm Gartner, the global AI infrastructure investment is projected to reach $284.7 billion in 2025, more than tripling from $83.7 billion in 2024. This investment frenzy is driven by the rapid increase in demand for real-time inference performance alongside the scaling of generative AI models.
NVIDIA, based in Santa Clara, California, is emerging as the biggest beneficiary of this trend. The company’s data center revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 is expected to reach $89.1 billion, a 427% increase from the same period last year, with ongoing shortages in the supply of H200 and next-generation Blackwell architecture-based GPUs. NVIDIA’s market capitalization hit an all-time high of $3.84 trillion in December 2025, accounting for approximately 31% of the total semiconductor market capitalization.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also directly benefiting from the surge in AI memory demand. Samsung’s High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) division has revised its 2025 revenue target to $18.7 billion, a 280% increase from the previous year, with HBM3E products completely sold out until the first quarter of 2026. SK Hynix is expected to maintain a 52% market share in the HBM sector, achieving annual revenue of $14.2 billion.
Taiwan-based TSMC is further solidifying its dominant position in the AI chip foundry market. The company’s AI chip production capacity, based on its 3-nanometer process technology, has expanded to 150,000 wafers per month, with AI chip-related revenue expected to reach $48.7 billion, accounting for 67% of total revenue in 2025. TSMC exclusively handles the production of next-generation AI chips for major clients such as Apple, NVIDIA, and AMD, widening the technological gap.
This AI infrastructure investment boom is not only providing opportunities for hardware companies. Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, reported a 312% increase in Azure AI service revenue to $23.4 billion, capturing about 28% of the cloud AI service market. The company is widening the gap with competitors by exclusively offering GPT-4 Turbo and next-generation models through its strategic partnership with OpenAI.
The Year of Quantum Computing Commercialization and Intensifying Technological Supremacy Competition
2025 is regarded as the year when quantum computing technology began to be utilized outside the laboratory and in real industrial settings. IBM’s 1,121-qubit Condor processor and Google’s Willow chip have each demonstrated performance surpassing that of traditional supercomputers in specific areas, sparking serious discussions about achieving Quantum Advantage. According to IDC, the global quantum computing market is projected to grow by 189% year-over-year to $8.7 billion in 2025.
IBM, based in Armonk, New York, is positioned as a leading company driving the commercialization of quantum computing. The IBM Quantum Network currently includes over 240 companies, research institutions, and government agencies worldwide, with quantum computing-related revenue expected to reach $3.4 billion in 2025. IBM’s Qiskit platform boasts over 450,000 monthly active users, establishing a unique position in building the quantum software ecosystem.
Google (Alphabet), based in Mountain View, California, achieved groundbreaking results in quantum error correction with its Willow quantum processor announced in December 2025. Despite consisting of 105 qubits, Willow significantly improved the noise issues faced by existing quantum computers, reaching a level where practical quantum algorithm execution is possible. Google aims to launch a commercial quantum cloud service in the first half of 2026, with projected annual revenue of $7.8 billion.
The South Korean government is also making large-scale investments to avoid falling behind in the quantum technology supremacy race. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the ‘K-Quantum Initiative 2030’ plan in December 2025, pledging to invest a total of 2.3 trillion won in quantum technology R&D over the next five years. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expected to play key roles in the quantum semiconductor and quantum sensor sectors, respectively, with Samsung securing unique competitiveness in qubit manufacturing technology based on quantum dots.
China is also experiencing rapid growth in the quantum technology field. The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) developed the ‘Jiuzhang’ quantum computer, which demonstrated performance surpassing Google’s Sycamore in specific computational problems, and the Chinese government announced plans to invest a total of $14.7 billion in the quantum technology sector in 2025, surpassing the U.S. quantum technology investment of $13.4 billion.
The practical application of quantum computing is showing visible results, particularly in the finance, pharmaceutical, and logistics sectors. JPMorgan Chase announced that it achieved a 47% improvement in returns by applying quantum computing to portfolio optimization algorithms in collaboration with IBM, while Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche reported a 23% reduction in research time through new drug development using quantum simulations.
However, significant technical barriers still exist for the commercialization of quantum computing. Most current quantum computers operate only in ultra-cold environments close to absolute zero, and qubit coherence time remains in the microsecond range. Additionally, the overhead issue of requiring thousands of physical qubits to form a single logical qubit for quantum error correction remains a challenge to be addressed.
Despite these technical limitations, industry experts predict the emergence of practical quantum computers achieving quantum advantage in specific fields around 2026-2027. McKinsey Global Institute forecasts that quantum computing will create $850 billion in economic value globally by 2030, with 40% in financial services, 25% in pharmaceuticals and chemicals, and 20% in logistics and manufacturing.
Paradigm Shift from the Metaverse to Practical Digital Twins
One of the most notable changes in the technology industry in 2025 is the paradigm shift from the concept of the metaverse to practical Digital Twin solutions. While the metaverse craze from 2021-2023 focused primarily on consumer-centric virtual reality experiences, 2025 sees digital twin technology, which creates real business value in industrial settings, gaining attention. Gartner predicts that the global digital twin market will grow by 156% year-over-year to $48.7 billion in 2025, indicating that 78% of metaverse-related investments have shifted to B2B industrial solutions.
Meta (formerly Facebook), based in Menlo Park, California, is quickly responding to this trend change. In the second half of 2025, the company began focusing on industrial VR/AR solutions through its ‘Meta for Business’ platform, particularly providing digital twin-based training and simulation services in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Revenue from industrial solutions using Meta’s Quest Pro headset increased by 234% year-over-year to $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Siemens, based in Munich, Germany, is positioned as a leader in the digital twin sector. The company’s Xcelerator portfolio supports manufacturers in building perfect digital replicas of physical products and production processes, with related revenue expected to reach $8.9 billion in 2025. Companies adopting Siemens’ digital twin technology report an average 31% reduction in product development time and a 27% improvement in operational efficiency.
South Korean companies are also actively adopting digital twin technology. Hyundai Motor Company established a complete digital twin at its Ulsan plant, achieving production line optimization and predictive maintenance, resulting in a 23% improvement in production efficiency and a 42% reduction in equipment downtime. POSCO implemented an AI-based digital twin system at its Gwangyang Steelworks, achieving an 18% reduction in energy consumption and a 15% reduction in CO2 emissions.
Microsoft, based in Seattle, USA, is demonstrating strong competitiveness in this market through its Azure Digital Twins platform. The company’s digital twin services integrate IoT data, AI analytics, and mixed reality technology, with related revenue expected to increase by 189% year-over-year to $6.7 billion in 2025. Microsoft is particularly strong in the smart city and smart building sectors, providing key technology for the Dubai Smart City project and Singapore’s national digital twin construction.
Dassault Systèmes, based in Paris, France, maintains a unique position in the manufacturing digital twin market through its 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The company’s solutions provide integrated digital twins covering the entire lifecycle from product design to manufacturing, operation, and service, with revenue expected to increase by 167% year-over-year to $5.4 billion in 2025.
The advancement of digital twin technology is closely related to the development of 5G/6G communication networks and edge computing technology. Real-time data synchronization and low-latency processing, essential for digital twin applications, faced limitations with existing 4G networks, but practicality has greatly improved with the commercialization of 5G networks. South Korea’s 5G network coverage reached 95.7% nationwide in 2025, providing an important infrastructure foundation for the expansion of digital twin services.
However, there are still several challenges to the widespread adoption of digital twin technology. Firstly, significant initial investment costs arise when companies integrate existing IT infrastructure with digital twin platforms. Additionally, the high network bandwidth and computing resource requirements for real-time data processing limit accessibility for small and medium-sized enterprises. Data security and privacy issues are also important considerations, with the security management of digital twin data containing core manufacturing technologies emerging as a new challenge.
Industry experts predict that digital twin technology will enter a full-scale expansion phase beyond the current pilot implementation stage around 2026. It is expected to become a standard technology in the automotive, aerospace, energy, and healthcare sectors, providing new growth drivers for related companies. Deloitte forecasts that digital twin technology will create $1.2 trillion in economic value globally by 2030, with 45% in manufacturing, 25% in infrastructure and construction, and 15% in the healthcare sector.
As of the end of 2025, the global technology industry is positioned at the convergence of three megatrends: the AI infrastructure investment boom, the commercialization of quantum computing, and the paradigm shift to practical digital twins. These technologies are not developing independently but are interconnected, creating synergies and expected to drive fundamental changes in the global technology ecosystem over the next 5-10 years. Particularly, South Korean companies are expected to explore new opportunities in this technological transition based on their existing strengths in semiconductors, 5G communications, and manufacturing, and could play a significant role in the global technology supremacy competition if supported by systematic government R&D investment and regulatory innovation.
