AI infrastructure spending drives 14.2% IT growth forecast for 2026

“Data center systems and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) are the top growth segments, reflecting accelerating investment in AI infrastructure, cloud platforms, and intelligent applications,” said John-David Lovelock, a Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Building the compute capacity required for AI is the largest infrastructure project ever attempted by humanity.”

Software spending is projected to grow 15.5% to $1.47 trillion. IaaS spending is expected to rise 29.3% to $287 billion as enterprises expand cloud deployments. Devices spending is forecast to climb 9.8% to $868 billion, services spending 5.3% to $1.57 trillion, and communications services 4.4% to $1.35 trillion.

Lovelock said the fastest growth is concentrated in AI-related infrastructure, cloud services, and software. “Organizations are spending more on AI-optimized servers, cloud services, and AI-ready software as they expand their AI efforts,” he said. “The fastest growth is expected in AI-related infrastructure, cloud services, and software.”