Sustainable growth remains the number one pursuit for companies in 2026 — and, amid geopolitical uncertainty and rapid technological change, one of the hardest things to capture. That is the premise behind the Fortune Future 120, an annual ranking produced by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Fortune that identifies firms with long-term growth potential.

Since 2017, the two organizations have partnered to screen more than 3,000 companies every year for their capacity to generate growth from within — a measurable and manageable trait they call "vitality." Vitality reflects the ambition of a firm's growth agenda, the strength of its growth teams, and the inner dynamism of its culture, according to the ranking's authors.

The most vital companies appear on the annual Fortune Future list, which was expanded this year from 50 companies to 120 to show that vitality reaches beyond software — which dominates the top 50 — without lowering the bar. The widened lens turns this year's ranking into a cross-industry benchmark of growth readiness rather than a software watchlist. To produce BCG's Vitality Score, the researchers analyzed more than 10 million data points and zeroed in on the 15 most predictive metrics, each robust and correlated with future revenue growth.

Since the list's inception in 2017, all Fortune Future companies have outperformed the MSCI World Index by 0.6 percentage points annually. The authors caution, however, that while the companies perform well as a portfolio, vitality is a directional measure of future potential, not a guarantee of individual firm success. More traditional SaaS firms, for instance, have seen their multiples contract and are performing notably worse than the portfolio as a whole.

Tech and the U.S. Still Dominate

Tech and the United States have dominated the Future 50 over the years, and this year no exception. More than half of the 120 companies — 69 — are in software and tech. Adding pharma/biotech and semiconductors brings the figure to nearly three-quarters of the list. The U.S. is home to 70% of the companies, with China a distant second at 9% and Europe at 8%.

Geography and industry labels tell only part of the story, though. The data behind the ranking shows that what looks like a software surge is really an AI-adoption play across many industries. Roughly 90% of the 120 firms sit in the top quartile of their own industries on two AI-related vitality metrics: AI skills among engineers and AI adoption in the entire workforce, based on millions of job descriptions. Because those signals are drawn from ordinary hiring data, they give companies in any sector a concrete way to locate themselves — and give readers a measurable track of how far AI readiness has spread beyond tech.

Tempus AI, ranked No. 2, is a case in point. Although listed as a pharma and life-sciences company, it is fundamentally an AI business, applying machine learning to clinical and molecular data. Not every Future 120 company thrives on AI, however: Petrindo Jaya Kreasi, No. 49, an Indonesian mining group, earns its place without leaning on AI adoption, through heavy capital investment, consistently refreshed innovation teams, and leaders with high-growth backgrounds.

Small, Young, and Often Private — With Notable Exceptions

If the list has a default profile, it is small, young, and often private — hardly a surprise, since young firms naturally have vitality. The real challenge, much as for humans, is not to lose it with age. Fifty-four of the 120 companies are privately held, and the typical public name on the list earned just over $1 billion in 2025 revenue.

Nine large companies, meanwhile, have aced the vitality test, scaling enough to land on the Fortune 500 without losing their edge: Nvidia, No. 16; Apple, No. 55; Oracle, No. 68; Palo Alto Networks, No. 74; ServiceNow, No. 75; Chewy, No. 84; Tesla, No. 87; Arista Networks, No. 108; and Meta Platforms, No. 120. They earned their place not by being young, but by refusing to act old.

How Large Companies Stay Vital

Large vital companies show a recognizable pattern across the three vitality dimensions of growth agenda, teams, and culture, the authors find. On agenda, they set a bold direction and pay for it: they articulate clear growth ambition, tie incentives to that ambition, and enjoy strong market backing, even as their raw R&D momentum slows with size. On teams, they ensure internal talent mobility and build deep digital and AI skills where they matter most. On culture, they approach AI as a people-upskilling opportunity, driving AI adoption across the whole organization.

This year's list demonstrates that vitality is not a product of DNA; it can be built. It is fostered by leaders who stay ambitious, keep moving, and reinvent their companies before they have to. And because the ranking is refreshed annually, the expanded 120-company format gives readers a wider baseline for tracking how the geographic mix, the industry balance, and AI's hiring footprint evolve in future editions.

The analysis was by Ketil Gjerstad, senior partner and global leader of BCG strategy; Johann Harnoss, partner and director of the BCG Institute; Viacheslav Romanov, partner at BCG; and Sophie Thorup, project leader at the BCG Institute.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.