SBOMs in 2026: Some Love, Some Hate, Much Ambivalence

**Executive summary:** The article reviews the growing push for Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs) and related supply-chain standards (SLSA, AI BOMs), noting regulatory drivers (CISA guidance, EU Cyber Resilience Act) and vendor efforts (Docker, Chainguard) while highlighting widespread adoption challenges. It warns that many SBOMs are generated too late or lack context—particularly for embedded and compiled software—creating inaccurate manifests and potential false confidence, and recommends combining SBOMs with secure build practices (SLSA) and independent software composition analysis to meaningfully improve supply-chain security.