Nebius takeover, Palantir growth and robotaxis: Wedbush's top 10 tech predictions for 2026

Analytics firm Wedbush has published its top 10 predictions for the tech sector for 2026. Among them are the growth of Palantir, the partnership between Apple and Google in the field of AI, the takeover of Nebius by bigtech and the successful launch of robotaxis by Tesla, SeekingAlpha writes.

The year 2026, Wedbush analysts, led by the company's managing director and head of tech sector research Dan Ives, believe will be a "game changer" for AI: "Looking ahead to 2026, the tech world and investors are both excited and anxious about the AI revolution," the analysts pointed out in a note cited by SeekingAlpha. - On the one hand, it's the fourth industrial revolution, with the U.S. outpacing China for the first time in 30 years. On the other hand, the trillions of dollars required for its realization cause investors' fears," the experts pointed out.

Ultimately, Wedbush believes that both those who are anxious about it and those who are enthusiastic - may be right: it "suggests that 2026 will be a pivotal year for the development of the AI revolution," the analysts said.

- Technology stocks will rise another more than 20% "as the effects of the AI revolution take shape in sectors such as software, chips and infrastructure."

- Tesla will kick off the era of autonomous vehicles by successfully launching an unmanned cab service in more than 30 cities, as well as starting to ramp up mass production of Cybercabs - two-seat electric cars with autopilot. In the baseline scenario, Wedbush believes, Tesla's share price in 2026 will reach $600 (up almost 25% from current levels); in the optimistic scenario - $800 (plus 66%).

- Also in 2026, Ives and his team believe Apple and Google will announce an AI partnership in Project Gemini . This will solidify Apple's AI strategy. The partnership, Wedbush believes, will be realized as a service in Apple's ecosystem that can be subscribed to. All this will lead to the fact that the market capitalization of the iPhone manufacturer in 2026 will reach $5 trillion (an increase of 24.7% from current figures).

- Analysts have named Nebius, headed by Arkady Volozh, co-founder of Yandex, as the best candidate for a takeover in the AI infrastructure segment. According to Wedbush, it could be taken over by a major bigtech, such as Microsoft, Alphabet or Amazon.

- The fastest growing subsector in the technology market will be the cybersecurity sector (excluding M&A). Wedbush analysts name such companies as Crowdstrike and Palo Alto Networks among the favorites in this market.

- Oracle, "despite the negative sentiment toward the company's stock today," is well underway with plans to build data centers and will begin converting its huge amount of revenue from contracts already awarded (Remaining Performance Obligation; RPO), into AI, hitting $250 per share - up nearly 29% from current levels.

- "Microsoft will peak as more enterprises accelerate their AI adoption with Azure and Microsoft," Wedbush analysts noted. - ' We believe Microsoft will be the cloud software performance leader in 2026,' Ives and his team reported."

- Nvidia will continue to be the world's dominant AI chip maker and gain access to the Chinese market thanks to trade talks between the U.S. and China. "Wall Street continues to significantly underestimate demand drivers for Nvidia's products in 2026, and our optimistic forecast for [the company's] stock is $275," the analysts added - this price target implies an upside of nearly 53% from current quotes.

- Palantir Technologies, through its Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), will expand its commercial success in the AI space and become "one of the software leaders at the forefront of the AI revolution." The company's potential valuation on a 2-3 year horizon is $1 trillion, Wedbush believes - it assumes growth of nearly 126% from current numbers.

- Also, analysts add, the Trump administration is investing in equity in a quantum company. Wedbush names IonQ and Rigetti Computing among the most likely candidates, given the potential aspect related to the technology, national security and confronting China.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor