Forrester reveals top emerging technologies set to drive value
Forrester has published a new report highlighting ten additional emerging technologies expected to provide measurable business value by 2025.
The new analysis expands on Forrester's earlier forecast of top technologies for the coming year, offering enterprises a broader lens for assessing where near-term investments could yield increases in efficiency, decision-making quality, and competitive positioning.
The report identifies four technologies likely to deliver rapid returns over the next two years: AI chips, computer vision, digital twins, and explainable AI.
AI Chips: Powering High-Performance and Edge AI
AI chips, whether developed for specialised AI workloads or general computing, are cited as a major enabler for sectors requiring both large-scale processing and low-latency edge operations. Their adoption is being shaped by continued advances in machine learning, generative AI, and reasoning frameworks. According to the report, these demands are pushing manufacturers toward new solutions that address requirements for cost, power efficiency, and scalability.
Charlie Dai, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, commented on this trend, focusing particularly on the Asia-Pacific context:
"The surging demand for AI chipsets in APAC will continue, and the key areas include high-performance computing and advanced packaging, government-backed semiconductor self-sufficiency initiatives, and AI-driven innovations in chip design and manufacturing. This fuels significant business value to the AI-native infrastructure hardware as the backbones for generative AI, agentic AI, and physical AI."
Computer Vision: Automating Human Sight at Scale
Computer vision is enabling the automation of human visual analysis across industries, according to Forrester's report. Its applications range from identity verification in financial services to claims processing in healthcare and manufacturing defect detection. By embedding computer vision into products and services, organisations stand to improve product safety, functionality, and customer engagement. The technology's capacity to detect trends, predict outcomes, and enhance decision-making is cited as a significant benefit for organisations seeking to refine their operations.
Digital Twins: Bridging the Digital and Physical Worlds
Digital twins—virtual representations of physical assets—are noted as particularly valuable in asset-intensive industries such as manufacturing, where they are used for everything from product design to field operations of machinery. The report details that these digital counterparts help companies understand and streamline the use of complex assets, reduce costs associated with poor design, and integrate IoT sensor data with physics-based models for greater operational efficiency.
Explainable AI: Building Trust in Automation
As AI continues to be integrated into business processes, Forrester's report highlights explainable AI as a crucial component for building trust among users. By providing transparency around AI-driven decisions and outputs, explainable AI can mitigate risks related to bias and discrimination and can give organisations deeper insight into both operations and customer behaviour.
The report states: "For AI to achieve its full transformative potential, humans will need to trust AI outputs. Explainable AI is key to engendering that trust. Explainability builds trust in AI by allowing users to trace its decisions and observe its performance. It can also mitigate the risk of biased and discriminatory decisions and provide additional insights into companies' operations and customers."
Mid- and Long-Term Technologies
Forrester's report classifies blockchain, personal AI devices, and secure access service edge (SASE) as technologies expected to yield broader business impact within two to five years. These are identified as requiring further maturation or infrastructure before widespread corporate adoption.
The analysis also places 6G, extended reality, and quantum computing platforms as areas of significant promise and risk, forecasting a time frame of five years or more before their benefits can be fully realised.
Quantum Computing Progress in APAC
Charlie Dai also provided perspective on quantum computing trends in the Asia-Pacific region, highlighting national and cross-sector investments:
"Key quantum computing trends in APAC for 2025 include strong national initiatives and public-private collaborations, with countries like Japan, China, South Korea, and Singapore investing heavily in research, talent development, and infrastructure. Focus areas are specialized hardware, quantum machine learning, fault-tolerant qubits, and hybrid quantum-classical systems. Regional collaboration and quantum startups are expanding, aiming for practical applications in finance, AI, energy, and healthcare, positioning APAC as a global quantum hub."
Forrester's expanded analysis reflects ongoing technology evolution and offers organisations detailed guidance on the time horizons and potential returns of investing in a range of emerging technologies.
