Gartner raised its forecast for 2026 AI spending to 2.7 trillion dollars.
Gartner raised its forecast as worldwide AI spending is expected to rise 49.5 percent this year, followed by a further 36.2 percent in 2027, CIO reported.
Gartner puts AI infrastructure spending up 51.2 percent this year, with AI software rising 60.2 percent. AI agents and assistants climb 77.3 percent. Spending on AI security almost doubles. The firm also lifted its 2026 growth forecast for the platforms used to build AI from 28 percent to 39 percent.
Gartner doubled its semiconductor forecast as well, to 2 trillion dollars by 2030 from an earlier estimate of 1 trillion.
John-David Lovelock, Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst, said the money was not taken from other IT budgets. CIOs were given some new money for AI in 2024 and a little in 2025, he said, "so there wasn't a diversion, and now more of their spending is about rebranding than diversion."
That rebranding still counts as AI spending in the forecast without creating new money.
Lovelock said: "By 2030, every dollar is going to be an AI dollar in one way or another."
How much of your AI budget is genuinely new, and how much is last year's project under a new name?
Image: AI-generated.
Sources
Our file on Gartner
- 10 Sept
Gartner said vendors call AI agents employees for one reason. Headcount budgets are bigger.
- 10 Sept
Gartner says a third of AI job cuts will reverse. Rehiring costs more.
- 8 Sept
Server prices up 125%. Lead times reaching 18 months.
Every story here is open to read. The ERP LEADERS brief goes one step further.
The week in enterprise software, in one email: the stories that mattered, the failures with their figures, one case taken apart. Read a sample or sign up for the brief.
Welcome back. · Issue 01
