Continuous Demand for AI Is Expected to Fuel Investments in IT Infrastructure

By : Wael Magdy

Worldwide spending on AI is forecast to total nearly $1.5 trillion in 2025 according to Gartner, Inc. a business and technology insights company.

"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 AI investment landscape is also expanding beyond traditional U.S. tech giants, including Chinese companies and new AI cloud providers. Furthermore, venture capital investment in AI providers is providing additional tailwinds for AI spending.”

Looking towards 2026, overall global AI spending is forecast to top $2 trillion, led in large part by AI being integrated into products such as smartphones and PCs, as well as infrastructure (see Table 1).

Table 1: AI Spending in IT Markets, Worldwide, 2024-2026 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

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        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