Thought Leadership
According to Gartner, worldwide AI spending will rise by 49.5 percent to 2.7 trillion US dollars in 2026.
Market research firm Gartner expects total worldwide spending on artificial intelligence of 2.7 trillion US dollars in 2026, an increase of 49.5 percent compared to the previous year. Gartner cites the interplay between massive investments in AI infrastructure and the increasing integration of AI capabilities into existing software and services as the main driver.
Infrastructure remains the largest spending item
By far the largest share of total spending continues to be accounted for by AI infrastructure – such as AI-optimized cloud services, servers, network technology, and processors – with a projected 1.48 trillion US dollars in 2026. John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, explained:
“Demand for AI infrastructure to support anticipated future workloads remains strong and shows little reaction to price pressures from rising memory prices. The expansion of AI data center capacity is the largest infrastructure project humanity has ever undertaken.”
John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner
According to the report, purchases of AI-optimized servers by hyperscalers and service providers continued to form the largest single item within infrastructure spending.
Software increasingly integrates native AI agents
In the software sector, providers across industries are embedding agent-based AI features into their existing products in order to compete against new, cross-functional AI agents on the market, according to Gartner. With generative AI residing in the so-called “Trough of Disillusionment” of the Gartner Hype Cycle in 2026, companies are increasingly utilizing simpler AI functions already integrated into their existing software to improve efficiency, customer retention, and decision-making, rather than relying on separate AI projects.
AI spending: Overview of the forecast
According to Gartner’s breakdown, out of the 2.67 trillion US dollars in global AI spending projected for 2026, around 1.48 trillion US dollars will go toward AI infrastructure (2025: 982 billion, 2027 forecast: just under 1.98 trillion US dollars). For AI services, Gartner expects around 576 billion US dollars in 2026 (2025: 434 billion, 2027: 746 billion), and for AI software overall roughly 462 billion US dollars (2025: 288 billion, 2027: 656 billion US dollars).
Within software spending, AI agents and assistants are projected to reach around 29 billion US dollars in 2026 (2025: 16 billion, 2027: 65 billion), and generative AI models approximately 28 billion US dollars (2025: 13 billion, 2027: 52 billion). For AI cybersecurity, Gartner expects around 51 billion US dollars in spending in 2026, up from 26 billion in 2025 and a forecast of 86 billion US dollars for 2027.
Lovelock added that for smaller, indirect projects, companies are turning to external service providers less often and are instead increasingly leveraging AI features in existing software – despite risks such as vendor lock-in, data sovereignty issues, and potentially escalating costs. From the combination of fundamental transformation projects and such smaller, indirect initiatives surrounding AI services, Gartner expects a market volume of 1.2 trillion US dollars by 2030.
Near-term forecast revised upward
Compared to the previous forecast from May 2026, Gartner raised its near-term growth expectations for AI application development platforms from 28 to 39 percent for 2026, as companies increasingly rely on custom-tailored AI applications. The growth forecast for generative AI models rose from 110 to 117 percent, driven in part by growing demand for lower-cost, domain-specific language models.
(Editorial Team)
