Global technology mergers and acquisitions are shifting sharply. Fewer transactions. Much larger ones. Deal value heads toward roughly $4 trillion this year, the strongest since 2021, according to PwC’s Global M&A industry trends: 2026 mid-year outlook. Megadeals above $5 billion now drive nearly half the total value. Volumes continue to fall.
AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and data centers anchor the activity. Strategic buyers chase scarce assets that deliver scale in compute, power, and security. Private equity focuses on platform builds and assets with clear paths to growth. The pattern matches observations in Morgan Lewis’s Technology M&A: Key Trends and Structuring Considerations from June 2026: capital concentrates in higher-quality targets rather than spreading across many smaller deals.
Technology generated the bulk of recent megadeals. Amazon’s investments in Anthropic and Globalstar stand out, alongside large commitments to OpenAI and Anthropic from other groups, PwC notes. TMT deal values climbed 48 percent to $472 billion in the first five months of 2026 while volumes slipped 9 percent year-over-year. Technology accounted for 85 percent of TMT volume and 89 percent of value, plus 15 of 16 megadeals.
AI infrastructure and data centers draw record capital.
BlackRock-led consortium, including MGX and the AI Infrastructure Partnership backed by Microsoft and NVIDIA, agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion in October 2025, the largest digital infrastructure transaction on record. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, per reports from Data Center Dynamics and company statements. Aligned operates nearly 80 facilities. The move secures capacity amid surging demand for AI compute.
Other data center activity includes AirTrunk’s sale to Blackstone for more than $16 billion and ongoing platform consolidations. Buyers target power generation, grid connections, cooling, and specialized components. PwC highlights that AI-related capital now flows through minority stakes, joint ventures, and partnerships alongside outright acquisitions. Four hyperscalers alone—Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft—project more than $700 billion in 2026 capital spending on infrastructure.
Cybersecurity follows the same concentration trend. Palo Alto Networks completed its acquisition of CyberArk in February 2026, adding unified identity security for human, machine, and agentic identities. The deal closed after shareholder approval and regulatory clearances, according to Palo Alto Networks investor materials. ServiceNow closed its $7.75 billion purchase of Armis in April. Platform players build end-to-end stacks as AI expands enterprise attack surfaces.
May 2026 saw 26 cybersecurity deals announced, including Akamai’s $205 million all-cash acquisition of LayerX for AI and browser security, Check Point’s purchase of Deepchecks’ team and IP for agentic security validation, and Torq’s acquisition of Jit for roughly $70 million to enhance its AI SOC platform, detailed in SecurityWeek. Activity remains high despite a slight year-over-year dip in deal count through early 2026.
Deal structures adapt to AI complexity and regulatory pressure.
Buyers acquire data, models, infrastructure, and talent alongside products. These assets prove difficult to value and diligence, Morgan Lewis reports. Earnouts, escrows, staged investments, minority positions, joint ventures, and commercial partnerships appear more often to allocate risk. Technical diligence now runs alongside legal and financial reviews, covering data rights, IP ownership, cybersecurity posture, open-source compliance, and AI performance metrics.
Regulatory scrutiny starts earlier. Antitrust, foreign investment, export controls, data privacy, and AI-specific rules overlap in many technology transactions. Cross-border deals and even minority investments face longer timelines. Morgan Lewis advises building regulatory analysis into strategy from day one, with tailored covenants and information-sharing protocols.
Human judgment stays central even as AI tools accelerate screening, data-room review, and initial valuation modeling. PwC’s Brian Levy, global deals industries leader at PwC US, described 2026 as “the year M&A supersized,” with AI driving megadeals, redirecting capital, and forcing dealmakers to rethink processes. AI agents may soon handle more routine steps, yet final decisions rest with people who weigh context and accountability.
Software valuations face pressure as buyers reassess traditional models against AI disruption. Some compressed multiples create entry points for high-quality assets with embedded workflows and proprietary data, PwC’s US technology deals outlook notes. IBM’s $11 billion acquisition of Confluent and SAP’s agreement to acquire Dremio illustrate the focus on platforms that deepen enterprise integration.
Broader M&A value projections vary slightly by source. EY estimates roughly $3.8 trillion globally by year-end. Bain and others recorded strong 2025 rebounds that set the stage. The consistent signal across reports remains the same: value rises on the back of large strategic transactions while volumes stay selective.
Private equity dry powder supports continued activity in infrastructure and cybersecurity platforms. Strategic buyers dominate the largest deals. The result is a market where quality assets command premiums and execution risk rises with regulatory and technical complexity.
Recent X discussions echo the infrastructure theme. Posts highlight hyperscaler capex, supplier opportunities in optical components and power, and consolidation in managed security services. One thread from June 23 noted Accenture’s $4.175 billion push into operational technology security via stakes and acquisitions in Dragos, runZero, and NetRise.
Capital competition intensifies. AI infrastructure spending vies with traditional M&A for attention and resources. Sovereign debt levels add pressure. Yet well-capitalized buyers continue to execute on transformation plays in power, data centers, and security. The pattern points to sustained momentum in fewer, larger transactions through the second half of 2026.
WebProNews is an iEntry Publication