Menu

Featured

Business transformation services

Sustainability and ESG

Technology consulting

Menu

Loading Results

M&A in 2026: AI investments, megadeals and a K-shaped M&A market

Global M&A industry trends: 2026 outlook

Swiss M&A trends: mid-year update 2025

AI is rapidly reshaping how companies compete, invest and grow—and global M&A is no exception. The outlook for 2026 points to dealmaking shifting into a different gear. A strong pick-up in AI-driven megadeals (transactions above $5bn) towards the end of 2025 has continued into the new year, signalling a market that is being reconfigured rather than merely recovering. While the number of deals is likely to stay subdued, overall deal values should remain high, with activity increasingly dominated by very large transactions led by the best-funded buyers.

Industry specific trends

Three factors we expect to shape M&A activity in 2026

Three forces are likely to define the next phase of M&A: AI accelerating strategic change; an AI capital-expenditure supercycle that may restrain dealmaking in the near term but sets the stage for a longer-term innovation wave; and a more polarised, K-shaped market. Together, they are creating a two-speed deal environment, with confidence returning at the top end while activity elsewhere remains more constrained.

AI is pulling forward decisions on scale, capabilities, data and talent, structurally reshaping deal strategy and execution. At the same time, AI is driving sector convergence, eroding traditional sector lines and changing how companies pursue deals. Technology groups, for instance, are moving into energy and power assets, while industrial and healthcare players are buying data, software and analytics businesses to integrate AI into their operations and innovation pipelines.

AI is also transforming the deal process itself. Faster timelines, deeper data-driven due diligence and greater transparency are changing how transactions are evaluated and executed, making a company’s AI readiness an increasingly important factor in valuation and risk assessment.

Estimates suggest $5tn to $8tn could be required over the next five years to fund AI technologies and the infrastructure that underpins them, from data centres and chips to networks and additional energy capacity far more than the roughly $3.5tn of total global M&A values recorded in 2025.

In the near term, this creates a trade-off for capital allocation. As hyperscalers, governments, sovereign investors, private equity and private credit deploy vast sums into AI at scale, less capital may be available for acquisitions across much of the market.

Over the medium term, however, AI could become a powerful catalyst for dealmaking. Even if only a part of its promised productivity and transformation benefits materialise, it could spark a new innovation wave, accelerating portfolio reshaping, capability-led acquisitions and business-model change. By boosting productivity and easing cost pressures, AI may also support a more favourable financing backdrop—conditions that have historically supported stronger M&A activity.

Deal momentum has returned at the top end of the market, but the recovery remains uneven. In 2025, global M&A values rose by 36%, while deal volumes increased by only 1%. This divergence points to a K-shaped market, where activity is driven by large, strategic transactions from well-capitalised buyers, while many other parts of the market remain constrained by valuation gaps, execution risk and continued uncertainty.

This divide is most visible in the surge in megadeals. A total of 111 transactions above $5bn were announced in 2025, a 76% increase from the previous year. The US illustrates this concentration clearly, accounting for less than a quarter of global deal numbers but more than half of total deal value, reflecting its deep capital markets and the dominance of very large transactions. Cross-border M&A, meanwhile, has lagged overall value growth, suggesting a continued preference for domestic scale, speed and familiarity.

Sector trends mirror this polarisation. The largest transactions are increasingly clustered in industries linked to scale, innovation and long-term transformation—led by technology, but also spanning banking, manufacturing, power and utilities, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences. For dealmakers, this means that capital access, sector positioning and strategic clarity now matter as much as price.

“Large transactions are helping to rebuild confidence in global M&A at the start of 2026. As capital returns, pricing gaps narrow and interest rates stabilise, deal activity is likely to extend beyond the very top end. Companies that move with conviction, rather than wait for ideal conditions, will have the advantage.”

Marc SchmidliPartner, Deals and Valuations Leader, PwC Switzerland

A world of risk—and opportunity

41%

of CEOs plan to undertake a major acquisition within the next three years.

Source: PwC 2026 Global CEO Survey

Macroeconomic conditions and geopolitics will continue to shape how and where M&A develops in 2026. Business sentiment has improved: the PwC 2026 Global CEO Survey shows that 61% of CEOs now expect global growth to strengthen this year. However, the underlying growth outlook remains moderate rather than buoyant, with the OECD forecasting global GDP growth to ease from 3.2% in 2025 to 2.9% in 2026, while CEOs’ confidence in near-term revenue growth has fallen to a five-year low.

Four macro factors will be particularly important for dealmakers in 2026:

  • Interest rates: Borrowing costs in the US and Europe have come down, particularly at the shorter end of the yield curve. While rates remain higher than in the previous decade, greater visibility on their direction is reducing uncertainty and narrowing buyer-seller gaps. For many dealmakers, predictability now matters more than absolute levels.
  • Financing: Funding conditions remain mixed but are generally favourable for large and more complex transactions. The continued growth of private credit is giving well-capitalised corporates and sponsors more flexibility to finance deals and bridge valuation gaps. Smaller players, however, continue to operate in a more constrained and selective funding environment.
  • IPO markets: Public equity markets are beginning to reopen. Medline’s $7.2bn listing on Nasdaq in December 2025—the largest IPO in several years—signals renewed investor appetite for large, high-quality companies. Healthier IPO markets also improve valuation benchmarks and risk appetite, supporting M&A activity more broadly.
  • Geopolitics and trade: Political and trade-related tensions remain a key consideration for dealmakers, acting both as a brake and a trigger for transactions. According to PwC’s latest Global CEO Survey, one in five CEOs expects their business to be significantly affected by tariffs over the coming year, particularly in economies closely tied to US trade. At the same time, rising defence spending and supply-chain resilience efforts are driving M&A focused on localisation, nearshoring and critical infrastructure.

Swiss M&A Industry Trends: 2026 update

Takeaways for dealmakers

As AI-driven investment and market volatility reshape the M&A landscape, dealmakers and executives need to plan for a wider range of outcomes while remaining disciplined in how they deploy capital. With AI becoming a defining force across industries, strategic clarity, robust scenario planning and a stronger focus on value creation are essential to navigating uncertainty and capturing emerging opportunities.

To succeed in this environment, dealmakers should focus on a set of critical questions:

  • How resilient is our strategy if the AI cycle proves more volatile than expected?
  • How should capital be allocated in a world of rising AI investment needs?
  • How is AI reshaping the competitive landscape of the target company?
  • Is AI properly embedded in our due diligence and valuation?
  • Where are the most attractive AI-driven opportunities across sectors and geographies?

M&A industry activities in Switzerland in 2026

Some key insights for Switzerland

Geopolitical tensions, the global AI investment cycle and shifting trade dynamics are reshaping the international deal landscape. For Switzerland—home to many global leaders in life sciences, industrial technology and financial services—maintaining its position as a stable, innovation-driven and well-capitalised market will be critical as global M&A becomes more polarised.

Switzerland’s predictable political, legal and regulatory framework—combined with strong corporate balance sheets and a stable financial system—continues to attract both domestic and international investors. In a world where boards are highly selective, ‘certainty of close’ has become a competitive advantage: governance quality, clear equity stories and well-prepared seller processes matter more than ever.

A strong Swiss franc can enhance the purchasing power of Swiss acquirers, particularly for technology and biotech capability acquisitions priced in USD. The practical implication: Swiss buyers can be more competitive in auctions—provided they can credibly underwrite integration and value creation, and hedge FX exposure appropriately.

As global M&A increasingly favours scale, strong balance sheets and strategic clarity, many Swiss corporates are well positioned to operate at the upper end of the market, even as mid‑market activity remains cautious and financing stays selective. Sponsors with ‘dry powder’ will remain active, but will demand cleaner equity stories, stronger cash conversion and clearer exit routes.

Switzerland’s strengths in pharmaceuticals and life sciences, industrial technology, financial services and advanced manufacturing align closely with global demand for AI‑enabled and innovation-driven capabilities. Expect continued activity in (i) pharma/biotech pipeline bolstering, (ii) industrial automation and software, (iii) cybersecurity and data infrastructure, and (iv) wealth and asset management platforms that can scale digitally.

Rising investment needs for AI, digitalisation and the energy transition are prompting Swiss companies to divest non-core assets and redirect capital towards higher-growth, technology-enabled businesses. We also expect more creative structures (JVs, minority stakes and staged acquisitions) to manage uncertainty, secure access to capabilities and reduce execution risk.

Switzerland has adopted a new Investment Screening Act focused on acquisitions by state‑controlled foreign investors in sensitive areas. While the regime is intended to be targeted and relatively non‑interventionist, deal timelines and diligence checklists should be updated now—especially for targets with critical infrastructure, defence-related exposure or sensitive data. Cross‑border approvals (EU/US competition, data transfers, export controls) will remain an important execution risk for Swiss outbound deals.

Explore our industry insights on global M&A in 2026.

Gain a deeper understanding of the forces reshaping dealmaking—from AI-driven transformation and megadeals to a more polarised M&A market—and what they mean for strategy, value creation and execution.

“AI is challenging the fundamentals of M&A execution. As deal timelines accelerate and due diligence becomes deeper and more data-driven, transparency increases and tomorrow’s deal process may look barely recognisable to today’s practitioners. Dealmakers should take note: The time to begin this transformation is now.”

Brian LevyGlobal Deals Industries Leader, PwC US

Industry takeaways – developing

Learn more about the key trends driving M&A activity globally in 2026. For potential investment hotspots check out our global industry-specific takeaways.

And what about the situation in Switzerland? In the next few weeks, our industry experts will be sharing their views and expectations for M&A trends in Switzerland—so please stay tuned.

{{filterContent.facetedTitle}}

{{filterContent.facetedTitle}}

{{filterContent.facetedTitle}}

{{filterContent.facetedTitle}}

{{filterContent.facetedTitle}}

{{contentList.dataService.numberHits}} {{contentList.dataService.numberHits == 1 ? 'result' : 'results'}}
{{contentList.loadingText}}
{{contentList.loadingText}}
{{contentList.viewAllLabel}}

Contact us

Marc Schmidli

Partner, Deals Leader, Zurich, PwC Switzerland

+41 58 792 15 64

Email

Marketing contact

Benjamin Salmon

Senior Marketing Consultant | Deals Financial Services, PwC Switzerland

+41 79 612 01 47

Email

© 2018 - 2026 PwC. All rights reserved. PwC refers to the PwC network and/or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Please see www.pwc.com/structure for further details.