Gartner says worldwide AI spending will total $2.5tn in 2026, Digital Platforms and Services
- AI infrastructure adds $401bn in AI spending as technology providers continue to build out AI foundations
Worldwide spending on AI is forecast to total $2.52 trillion in 2026, a 44% increase year-over-year, according to Gartner, Inc. a business and technology insights company.
“AI adoption is fundamentally shaped by the readiness of both human capital and organizational processes, not merely by financial investment,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Organizations with greater experiential maturity and self-awareness are increasingly prioritizing proven outcomes over speculative potential.
“Because AI is in the Trough of Disillusionment throughout 2026, it will most often be sold to enterprises by their incumbent software provider rather than bought as part of a new moonshot project,” said Lovelock. “The improved predictability of ROI must occur before AI can truly be scaled up by the enterprise.”
Building AI foundations alone will drive a 49% increase in spending on AI-optimized servers for 2026, representing 17% of total AI spending. AI infrastructure will also add $401 billion in spending in 2026 as a result of technology providers building out AI foundations (see Table 1).
Table 1: Worldwide AI Spending by Market, 2025-2027 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)
Market
2025
2026
2027
AI Services
439,438
588,645
761,042
AI Cybersecurity
25,920
51,347
85,997
AI Software
283,136
452,458
636,146
AI Models
14,416
26,380
43,449
AI Platforms for Data Science and Machine Learning
21,868
31,120
44,482
AI Application Development Platforms
6,587
8,416
10,922
AI Data
827
3,119
6,440
AI Infrastructure
964,960
1,366,360
1,748,212
Total AI Spending
1,757,152
2,527,845
3,336,690
Source: Gartner (January 2026)
Gartner clients can read more in Forecast: AI Spending, Worldwide, 2024-2029, 4Q25.
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