[Digital Today reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] Research firm Omdia on Tuesday selected four key themes expected to lead 2027 and presented AI monetisation, supply chains, digital sovereignty and physical AI as focal topics.

According to Omdia, competition in AI technology will continue, but the metrics used to judge it are changing. As 59 percent of companies expect AI budgets to rise by more than 10 percent in 2027, pressure to prove tangible results is set to intensify.

Omdia said companies will assess AI investment not only by technological advantage but also by ROI and productivity gains. It forecast that across software, services and devices, attention will shift to where AI creates value, how that value is secured, and what business models can turn adoption into sustainable revenue.

Supply chains can be summed up as a crisis becoming the new normal.

Omdia said tech companies can no longer assume disruption will end and supply chains will return to normal. It said volatility is becoming constant as AI infrastructure demand, constraints in component supplies, geopolitical pressure, energy demand and macroeconomic uncertainty intersect.

It stressed that the ability to respond to these pressures will increasingly become a measure of competitiveness.

On digital sovereignty, Omdia highlighted that the discussion is moving from whether an organisation needs stronger digital sovereignty to what level of control is actually needed and how much it is willing to pay for it.

More than 100 countries are currently pursuing digital sovereignty initiatives. It reflects the growing importance of control over data, infrastructure, AI and digital supply chains.

But Omdia said fully independent technology is, in most cases, neither realistic nor necessarily needed. It stressed that organisations must distinguish areas that must be directly controlled, areas where partnerships remain essential, and areas where boosting sovereignty creates enough business value to justify additional cost and complexity.

Physical AI is expected to expand beyond humanoid robots to vehicles, buildings, energy infrastructure, workspaces and connected consumer environments. Omdia said that as intelligence becomes embedded in the physical world, organisations will also face new challenges around governance, safety, legal liability, integration and trust.