The $380B Orchestration Bet: AI Labs Compete for the Enterprise Control Layer Beyond Models

Summary

Analysis published February 17, 2026 frames the emerging competitive battle for enterprise AI around the orchestration layer — the infrastructure that coordinates AI agents across workflows, accumulates institutional context, and creates switching costs that justify platform multiples. The analysis identifies coding as the "wedge" domain: coding was the first area where autonomous agents proved reliable enough for production use, and whichever company controls developer workflows gains the footh