Top Big Tech Trends for 2022 + 10 Tech Stocks to Watch

Below are ten of the new year’s hottest tech trends (and their leaders).

5G Communication

After years of build-up, the rollout of 5G mobile networks is finally starting to become a reality. More and more cities are building the infrastructure needed to support the latest technology, while more phone models with 5G capability are being introduced into the marketplace. This bodes well for Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), the leading semiconductor provider for the 5G revolution. Qualcomm owns several patents vital to the industry, which it leverages to get a piece of its technology into two out of every three 5G-enabled smartphones. The switch to 5G is still in the early innings, and critical mass is still a few years away, so look for Qualcomm to benefit for the foreseeable future.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The machine takeover is not here quite yet, but AI is creeping into everything from our cars to our refrigerators. The undisputed king of AI is Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). The company’s industry-leading GPUs, built initially to power computer game graphics, have proven to be excellent at handling the vast computational workload that AI demands. The company is rapidly becoming one of the largest companies in the world and is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Metaverse

The metaverse concept gained significant traction in 2021, led by Meta (NASDAQ: FB), the newly renamed parent company of Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. With their leading social media presence and Oculus virtual reality division,  the company’s goal of building out a fully-realized digital world is already well underway.

Semiconductors

With more and more of our everyday devices becoming computerized, semiconductors are proliferating. Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) has been one of the breakout semiconductor stocks of the last few years. The company has a growing market share for  CPUs and GPUs for PCs/laptops while also rolling out a product dedicated to hugely successful servers. 2022 stands to be another year of solid growth for the company.

Autonomous Cars

A world where our cars drive themselves and people are merely passengers is rapidly approaching. Seemingly every automaker and major tech company is spending huge sums of money pursuing truly autonomous vehicles. One of the few companies with a widely accepted product is Mobileye, currently a subsidiary of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). Mobileye has shipped over 100 million of its driver-assist products to date. Intel recently announced its intent to spin off Mobileye in 2022, presenting a new opportunity for investors.

Cloud Computing

The advantages of cloud computing are many, and more companies are choosing to go that route by the day. The trend shows no signs of slowing down, and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is looking to maintain its pole position. It’s massively popular. Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers customers a full suite of cloud computing solutions. AWS, which is currently generating nearly $80 million in revenue annually, has been the subject of spin-off talks over the last few years. Still, so far, Amazon seems content to continue using the massive cash flows to continue building its global empire.

Digital Transformation

There are still a large number of small businesses that have little to no online presence. Bringing these businesses online will continue to be big business for companies like Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG). The Google parent company offers a host of products for bringing a business online, including payment solutions, remote collaboration software and digital marketing plans.

E-commerce

Thanks to companies like Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE). Most people know Adobe from opening PDF files on their computers, but these days, they are engaged in much more. Namely, their 2018 purchase of Magento gave them a major inroad into e-commerce. The Magento platform streamlines the building of purchasing applications for company websites. This makes Adobe a foundational piece of many websites.

Enterprise Collaboration

With a large (and growing) chunk of the workforce moving to permanent work from home, the ability to collaborate remotely has become as essential to a business’s software stack as word processing and data entry. Nobody provides the business essentials better than Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). A multi-decade leader in business software solutions, Microsoft leads the way into the remote work age with its Teams product. Microsoft Teams combines video conferencing, text chat and file sharing into a seamless and reliable platform that’s the gold standard in remote collaboration.

Enterprise Software

One of the issues with moving online is that various business functions are spread across different platforms. Each of these platforms has its own login and security procedures. Remembering so many logins and passwords, along with the process for password retrieval, takes time that’s better spent on more important things. That’s where Okta (NASDAQ: OKTA) comes in. The company offers a single sign-on platform that lets users log into a host of programs using one username and password.