software PM market analysis — 2026-08-13

Software’s afternoon read-through is mixed. Enterprise buyers are tightening the criteria for AI spending, favouring use cases where lower inference costs show up as measurable operational value, according to Inc42. That discipline sits awkwardly against continued heavy investment in AI infrastructure, with CoreWeave’s latest results underscoring strong underlying demand even as margin pressure and the capital intensity of expansion remain live concerns, per Yahoo Finance.

On the product side, the sector’s commercial architecture keeps consolidating around subscriptions. FastSpring notes that vendors, including established players, continue shifting away from legacy licensing toward recurring revenue, while Apty points to digital adoption platforms adding embedded AI support to help organisations track how software is actually used across workflows. Retention and demonstrated customer value remain the tests that determine whether that recurring-revenue base holds up.

Developer tooling is a separate thread worth watching. Kiro’s positioning illustrates a broader shift from AI code generation toward agentic engineering, where coding assistance is bundled with terminal operations, collaboration and deployment support. That expands the competitive surface beyond simple code completion.

Taken together, the evidence points in different directions: infrastructure demand and subscription durability suggest resilience, while more selective enterprise AI budgets and infrastructure margin concerns argue for caution. This is information only, not financial advice.