Agentic AI, Cybersecurity Lead Mexican Tech Investment for 2026

Mexican corporations are prioritizing agentic AI and cybersecurity for 2026 as ICT investment shifts from hardware to cloud-based, service-driven models. This reallocation responds to board-level pressure for measurable ROI, supply chain constraints, and a shortage of 1.4 million digital workers

Mexican organizations are putting the deployment of AI agents and cybersecurity investments as their highest technological priorities for 2026. This strategy addresses the urgent need for measurable returns on investment and a persistent digital talent shortage involving 1.4 million workers.

"ICT services and the cloud represent 44% of the market and contribute more than 92% to the growth. The growth of the organizational market is being driven by operating expenses and the cloud, rather than the direct purchase of equipment," says Ricardo Zermeño, general director, Select.

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in Mexico enters 2026 under a framework of cautious expansion and structural realignment. According to a survey conducted by the consultancy Select among its Digital Innovation Council members, corporate investment is pivoting away from legacy infrastructure. 

The findings indicate that AI agents and cybersecurity are tied for the first position in budget allocation. These priorities are followed by advanced analytics and the migration of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to cloud environments.

Select projects that corporate ICT spending in Mexico will total MX$547 billion (US$31.8 billion) by the end of 2026. This figure represents a 4.1% annual growth rate, a pace that remains below historical averages for the region. The deceleration in total spending growth contrasts with the aggressive expansion of specific subsectors. For instance, the public cloud segment is expected to reach MX$64.57 billion, a 16.1% increase. 

The market adoption of service-based models, like subscriptions to Agentic AI services hosted by providers and not developed by their own company, is a response to several macroeconomic and technical factors. 

An example of this is when teams face increasing pressure from boards of directors to demonstrate the tangible impact of AI on business outcomes, without caring if it is an owned-development model or just providers. Simultaneously, global supply chain frictions, such as semiconductors or memory shortages, have complicated the procurement of physical hardware. 

These constraints have influenced leaders to prioritize software-defined solutions and cloud-native architectures that offer greater agility and lower upfront capital requirements.

The technical reconfiguration of the Mexican market reveals a clear divergence between traditional infrastructure and modern value-added solutions. Select survey reveals that services related to ICT are estimated to reach MX$172 billion, growing 6.7% during this time. In contrast, connectivity investments show a marginal increase of 0.5%, while traditional software sales are projected to decline by 1.0%, maintaining the years-before migration to cloud.

Detailed budgetary analysis shows that categories such as servers, storage systems, printing hardware, and personal computers are at the bottom of the priority list for 2026. The investment focus has shifted toward layers of automation and operation that sit atop cloud infrastructure. 

Arely Reyes Gaspar, analyst, Select, says that the most dynamic growth is concentrated in cloud services and value-added software, which grew 18% and 12% respectively during the previous year. Reyes also highlights that a significant portion of computing power is now consumed through external providers rather than on-premise data centers.

Cybersecurity, for its part, remains a top priority because the expansion of the attack surface, driven by cloud adoption and remote operations, requires more sophisticated defense mechanisms. As organizations integrate AI agents into their core processes, the security of those autonomous entities becomes a critical business requirement.

From Chatbots to Autonomous AI Agents

The global adoption of AI agents experienced a 327% increase during the final four months of 2025, according to the 2026 State of AI Agents report by Databricks. This shift represents a transition from isolated Large Language Models (LLMs) to integrated multi-agent architectures that automate specialized workflows rather than discrete tasks. 

Databricks says that 66% of organizations now utilize AI-powered tools, though the implementation of fully autonomous agents remains at 19%. A primary driver of this trend is the use of supervisor agents, which orchestrated 37% of platform activity by Oct. 2025. 

In Latin America, adoption follows a pragmatic trajectory centered on real-time inference and specific use cases such as loan origination, which accounts for 10% of regional activity. Organizations are increasingly adopting multi-model strategies to optimize performance; for instance, 83% of retail companies utilize two or more model families. 

However, the confusion between Mexican decision makers relies on the technical difference between AI solutions. Nayid Aguilar, president, Creai, says that a current problem is that many organizations confuse chatbots with AI agents.

“A virtual agent is far different. Once configured, it can think for itself, make decisions, and correctly guide a process within a company. It is often confused with chatbots, which are basically decision trees," says Aguilar in an interview with El Economista. 

Aguilar says that executives often state that AI is important, but the internal change within daily operations is often limited. To bridge this gap, companies are focusing on agents that provide a clear financial return. If the return on investment is not viable, corporations are choosing to postpone deployment, regardless of the potential operational advantages.