AI Investment to Push Global IT Spending to $6.37 Trillion in 2026
New Delhi–Worldwide information technology spending is expected to reach $6.37 trillion in 2026, up 14.2% from 2025, as businesses increase investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure, cloud computing and intelligent software, according to a new Gartner forecast.
Data center systems and Infrastructure as a Service are expected to record the strongest growth as companies expand computing capacity for AI workloads and high-performance computing.
Spending on data center systems is projected to rise 62.5% to $822 billion in 2026, compared with $506 billion in 2025.
Infrastructure as a Service spending is forecast to increase 29.3% to $287 billion, while software spending is expected to climb 15.5% to $1.47 trillion.
Device spending is projected to grow nearly 10% to $868 billion. Spending on IT services is expected to rise about 5% to $1.57 trillion, while communications services spending is forecast to increase 4.4% to $1.35 trillion.
“Building the compute capacity required for AI is the largest infrastructure project ever attempted by humanity. Driven by the expansion of AI workloads and demand for high-performance computing, hyperscalers and enterprises are rapidly scaling next-generation data centre capacity,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished Vice President Analyst at Gartner.
Despite the strong growth outlook, Gartner said technology budgets continue to face pressure from inflation, semiconductor and memory supply constraints, rising hardware costs and changing business priorities.
The forecast reflects growing confidence that AI will continue to drive technology spending, with much of the additional investment concentrated in data center infrastructure, cloud services and software.
Traditional technology categories are expected to grow at a slower pace.
Organizations are also increasing spending on AI-optimized servers, cloud platforms and AI-ready applications as they expand enterprise AI deployments, making infrastructure and software the fastest-growing areas of the global IT market. (Source: IANS)
