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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Global AI spending has been on an upward trajectory.
- These expenditures will top $2 trillion in 2026.
- GenAI smartphones, AI-optimized servers lead spending.
The AI boom has triggered widespread interest in AI adoption to optimize business processes and individual workflows. This demand has also been a catalyst for large-scale investments in AI infrastructure to support those goals, and a new Gartner forecast shows that momentum isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
The research firm published its latest AI spending forecast, which projects that in 2025, the market will reach $1.5 trillion, and by 2026, it will top $2 trillion. This is slightly more than double spending in 2024. Much of this spending is also defined by the continuous expansion of AI into products, with GenAI smartphones being the biggest project spending category in 2026, over AI services.
Also: Gartner says add AI agents ASAP – or else. Oh, and they’re also overhyped
“The forecast assumes continued investment in AI infrastructure expansion, as major hyperscalers continue to increase investments in data centers with AI-optimized hardware and GPUs to scale their services,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner.
The company created a table detailing the breakdown of the AI Spending in IT Markets forecast, which you can see below.
Market | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
AI Services | 259,477 | 282,556 | 324,669 |
AI Application Software | 83,679 | 172,029 | 269,703 |
AI Infrastructure Software | 56,904 | 126,177 | 229,825 |
GenAI Models | 5,719 | 14,200 | 25,766 |
AI-optimized Servers (GPU and Non-GPU AI Accelerators) | 140,107 | 267,534 | 329,528 |
AI-optimized IaaS | 7,447 | 18,325 | 37,507 |
AI Processing Semiconductors | 138,813 | 209,192 | 267,934 |
AI PCs by ARM and x86 | 51,023 | 90,432 | 144,413 |
GenAI Smartphones | 244,735 | 298,189 | 393,297 |
Total AI Spending | 987,904 | 1,478,634 | 2,022,642 |
Credit: Gartner
A metric that stood out to me was the growth in demand for AI services, AI application software, and GenAI models. As ZDNET has previously reported, many businesses adopting AI applications or services are not seeing a clear return on investment. I figured this would discourage further investment, but it seems that the promise will be enough to keep these investments going.
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