Dive Brief:
- IT spending will reach new heights in 2026, surpassing $6 trillion for the first time in Gartner's annual projections, the analyst firm said Wednesday. Spending is set to grow by 9.8% year over year, according to the forecast.
- The growth spurt will be driven in part by robust investment in data center systems and software, as both categories reflect increased demand for AI services.
- “Despite being in the trough of disillusionment in 2026, GenAI features are now ubiquitous across software already owned and operated by enterprises and these features cost more money," said John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, in a release. "The cost of software is going up and both the cost of features and functionality is going up as well thanks to GenAI."
Dive Insight:
The expectation of robust growth aligns with rising interest in enterprise-grade AI solutions, as CIOs continue to realign budget priorities to bolster adoption efforts.
Despite auspicious adoption plans, two significant hurdles stand in the way of businesses: compute constraints and pending governance tasks.
“The race to build AI infrastructure has further increased demand and growth expectations for data center servers, especially AI-optimized server racks," said Lovelock. "However, server demand growth remains limited by supply constraints."
Hyperscalers poured billions this year into infrastructure expansions. Partnerships with specialized chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD also fueled plans to expand compute capacity.
"The availability of AI devices has also boosted overall spending by more than $30 billion," Lovelock said. "With the replacement cycle unchanged, the stronger performance in 2025 will result in a lower relative growth rate for 2026, as demand has been pulled forward."
Earlier this month, Gartner projected enterprises will spend more than $37 billion in AI-optimized infrastructure as a service by 2026.
