Top 10 news in the IT industry for the first half of 2026 (April to September): Reorganization of the power balance of generative AI and the reality of legacy systems

The first half of 2026 (April-September) was a tumultuous half-year in which the power balance of the generative AI market changed dramatically, the mainframes that had supported the IT sector for many years reached a turning point, and security threats continued to persist.

Among the news articles that capture the current state of the industry from publicly available information such as overseas research reports and company announcements, we will look back at 10 that particularly captured the attention of readers.

Top 10 rankings for the first half of 2026 (April to September)

Reorganization of the power distribution of generative AI and the fate of the wavering “legacy”

Looking at the rankings for the first half of the year, the IT department's interests can be broadly categorized into three trends. ``Reorganization of the generative AI market'' (2nd, 6th, 9th, 10th), ``Tipping point for mainframes'' (3rd, 5th), and ``Unchanging operational and security challenges'' (1st, 4th, 7th, 8th).

Of particular note is that four topics related to generative AI made it into the ranking. As the 6th place ``Generative AI Tripolization'' shows, the market structure that had been seen as ``ChatGPT'' being the strongest has collapsed, and options have suddenly expanded, including the rapid growth of ``Claude'', the stability of Gemini, and the rise of 2nd place ``Meta AI.'' Services that can be used by companies of all sizes, such as Anthropic's ``Claude for Small Business,'' which came in 10th place, have appeared, and ``which AI to use and how to use them properly'' is becoming a point of discussion at the management level.

The difficulty of “legacy renewal” and thorough security basics

Another major trend is the movement toward mainframes. The withdrawal of fifth-ranked Hitachi from the business marked a milestone in the history of domestic core systems. However, at the same time, the survey result that ranked third, ``More than 70% of exit projects fail,'' points to the reality that even with generative AI, it is not easy to break away from legacy. This highlighted the gap between expectations that ``with AI, things can be done'' and the harshness of implementation.

On the other hand, down-to-earth themes also attracted strong interest. The number one ranking, "HDD with zero failures," shows that even in the age of AI, the basic issue of storage reliability remains the same. Topics related to Windows operations such as remote desktop innovation in 4th place and "no-reboot" updates in 7th place, and the security warning that ``8-character passwords are almost useless'' in 8th place were read as ``indispensable information'' that is directly connected to daily operations.

Brilliant AI trends and solid operation and security. How to turn these two wheels around? In the second half of the year, ITmedia Enterprise will continue to deliver information that will be helpful in making decisions in the field.