U.S. remains the most important market for tech adoption as demonstrated by international innovation on display at CES 2026

All eyes have been on the U.S. this week following news of the prosecution of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and the expected seizure of oil in the country, which has long served as the nation’s economic lifeline. 

The US has long championed its position as the most dominant global economy, with American businesses relying on the relative predictability of its nation’s governance. President Donald Trump’s recent policies and actions, however, could risk upending this stability. 

Since taking office, Trump has shown that he is not afraid to go against the grain or risk upsetting diplomatic relations with other countries. The decision to hike import duties with a raft of new tariffs for goods coming into the US sent shockwaves across global trading partners and disrupted well-established supply chains worldwide, while forcing many countries to change their export strategy. 

And, despite pledging to primarily focus on US affairs, Trump has been actively involved in numerous international controversies, including brokering negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the Israel-Palestine conflict and, most recently, the shock arrest of Maduro. 

These actions may undermine investor confidence in the US and affect the ability of American companies to do business abroad -- creating a dynamic that blends competition and cooperation at this year’s CES conference in Las Vegas.

More than 140,000 people from 150 countries attended last year's CES, and a similar number is expected to attend this year's event.

Revenue from consumer tech in the U.S. is forecast to reach $565 billion USD in 2026, according to the U.S. Consumer Technology Industry Forecast released this week. Meanwhile, entering this market allows technology companies to access the largest, most tech-adopting customer base in the world and a deep venture capital ecosystem experienced in scaling startups. 

For international companies, expanding into the US is often the primary way to prove scalability and differentiate temporary success from substantial growth potential. The UK, for one, has a strong innovation ecosystem, although long-term growth trajectories are significantly curtailed if access to the US is not on the table. The US VC market deploys over $170 billion USD annually, compared to £7.8bn in the UK. Seed rounds and valuations are also nearly double those typically raised in the UK. 

This can be evidenced by looking at the size of Britain’s largest tech companies, including Sage, Arm, Wise and Ocado Group, as compared to Big Tech in the U.S.: (MSFT), (GOOG), (AAPL), (ORCL), (CRM) and (SAP), among others.

And, in sharp contrast to the European landscape, America offers a highly competitive environment, where technology companies can prove their credibility and ability for continued growth to investors and partners through keeping pace with international competition. 

Wellbeing and corporate health: international ambition at CES 2026

Beyond the immediate market implications of US competitiveness, the nation is also home to some of the most influential tech conferences, which represent critical scaling opportunities for international startups. Just this week, the three-day CES 2026 conference in Las Vegas will showcase leading innovations from global companies. 

Despite the turbulence stemming from Trump’s administration, the U.S. market remains essential for international companies that need to prove scalability and move beyond the confines of domestic growth to achieve long-lasting success and build a truly sustainable business. 

Deep Care, for example, is a German company offering a revolutionary approach to occupational health and wellbeing. Its proprietary AI product, Isa, offers a deep analysis to limit the health risks associated with long-term desk work. The AI coach monitors behaviors in real-time to correct poor posture, ensure that employees are taking sufficient breaks and spot signs of stress or eye strain. 

The company was recently named an Honoree of the Digital Health Category for CES Innovators 2026 for its Isa Resilience Coach, for which the team will travel to Las Vegas for the 2026 edition of the landmark CES Conference. 

After substantial success in Europe, where the ISA coach is already used by over 250 companies, the team has founded a US company subsidiary, Deep Care Inc., to reach even more users. In the startup is holding initial talks with U.S. partners from the corporate health and insurance sectors, these pilot projects will set the foundation for Deep Care to scale across the US. 

Beyond European startups, Chinese and South Korean companies will also be at the forefront of CES 2026, where the humanoid robotics spotlight turned into a three-way contest between Chinese, American and South Korean enterprises, reports stressed. 

Chinese players including Unitree and Agibot have already drawn attention due to their humanoid and quadruped robots. In particular, the boxing version of the G1 humanoid has brought attention for its performance.

The company’s staff said that the robot's agility and control drew repeated applause from visitors, who have referred to it as the "Bruce Lee of robots."

Beyond CES: innovation-loaded ecosystems

CES is not the only platform where international companies will be showing their expansions across the US. This past month One Way Summit 2025 hosted its conference in San Francisco that celebrated the immigrants building the most disruptive companies across the globe.

One company, ADvendio, is an industry-leading solution powered by Salesforce that combines media buying and selling technologies into one platform, and is rapidly expanding into the US market. The company was initially founded in 2004 as a Salesforce consultancy in Germany, although by 2010 its innovators had developed an all-in-one SaaS solution for businesses to manage their advertising processes more efficiently. 

Today ADvendio is an advertising management platform powered by AI. Customers include some of the best known large enterprises and small businesses in more than 25 countries, and each is supported daily from the ADvendio offices in Ireland, Germany, Chile and the US. 

Ambition further characterizes these new entrepreneurs expanding into the US market. In Dubai, Planno – the first AI-powered prospecting platform for solar companies to identify and pre-qualify commercial and industrial rooftop opportunities – plans to accelerate its AI-backed automated solar rooftop work with deployment in New York, New Jersey and Texas, among other locations. 

The technology company, selected by The AI Journal as one of the 26 companies to watch in 2026, is praised for its work in applying GeoAI, and, as solar adoption rates continue to surge in America, Planno is set to support commercial and industrial efforts in the US.  

US companies poised to expand in 2026

International players are increasingly taking the spotlight in US market predictions and forecasts, but the emerging role of national entrepreneurs within the context of the Trump administration remains one to watch. 

California-based Prezent, an all-in-one AI communication platform for enterprises led by Rajat Mishra, uses intelligent software to enhance their clients’ impact. In betting on business communication software that extends beyond simple slide formatting tools, its AI tailors contextual intelligence for specific industries and audiences. In 2025, the startup closed its Series B funding round with $30 million USD, taking the total company valuation to $400 million USD. 

The new capital will be used largely for acquisitions of other companies as a core strategy to rapidly expand across the whole of the U.S. and embed its proprietary AI assistant into business communication workflows for even more enterprise users. 

Myuser, in contrast, is an autonomous B2B sales platform led by Ibrahim Hasanov. The company automates the entire outreach motion including targeting, hyper-personalized copy, follow-ups, inquiry handling, meeting scheduling, and lightweight landing pages, making teams able to scale quality conversations without additional personnel.  

The company uses AI to transform the productivity of sales and marketing pipelines, fundamental levers of success when it comes to scalability. Companies use Myuser to make outreach accessible, automated, and reliably scalable. The tools transform cold outreach into a repeatable growth engine. 

Technology enterprise Helm.ai, a pioneer in delivering AI-first perception, planning and simulation models for real-time deployment and scalable training, is another company helping to build the next generation of AI technology and is also in attendance at CES this year.

On the investor front, Aurion Capital has witnessed momentum firsthand, and plans to seize the opportunities it offers. The American investment holding group, led by Ali Diallo, focuses on building resilient, future economies through a diversified investment strategy spanning VC, strategic investments, and public-private partnerships. 

Headquartered in San Francisco, Aurion Capital represents a growing investment scene in the U.S. and abroad, with a network of partners and investment professionals across the U.S., Europe, the UAE and Africa, among other locations. It is also the parent company of NovaWave Capital, a Silicon Valley–based venture capital firm; AurionX, a global fund-of-funds platform based in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM); and Nova WV Investments, an investment firm.