Gartner: IT spend to $6.31T
- Gartner said on April 22 that worldwide information technology spending will reach $6.316 trillion in 2026, after lifting its forecast as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure and software kept rising. - The sharpest increase is in data center systems, which Gartner now sees climbing 55.8% to about $788 billion in 2026, while total information technology services spending tops $1.87 trillion. - Gartner raised its 2026 growth forecast from 10.8% in February to 13.5% in April, pointing to a faster artificial intelligence buildout by hyperscalers and software buyers. (gartner.com)
Gartner now expects worldwide information technology spending to hit $6.316 trillion in 2026, after raising its forecast on April 22. (gartner.com) The research firm said that would be a 13.5% increase from 2025, up from the 10.8% growth rate and $6.155 trillion total it projected on February 3. (gartner.com 1) (gartner.com 2) The biggest jump is in data center systems, where Gartner forecasts 55.8% growth to $787.99 billion in 2026. Software is projected to rise 15.1% to $1.444 trillion. (gartner.com) Information technology services remain the largest category by dollars, with spending expected to reach $1.870 trillion in 2026. Communications services are forecast at $1.359 trillion, and devices at $856.19 billion. (gartner.com) Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock said the revision reflects “accelerating momentum in AI infrastructure and advanced memory,” as artificial intelligence workloads push companies to buy more high-performance compute. (gartner.com) The plain-language version is that running large artificial intelligence models needs specialized chips, memory and servers, and those systems are expensive enough to move the entire information technology budget. Gartner said hyperscaler purchases and AI-centric software are now outpacing older categories. (gartner.com) That helps explain why Gartner’s April outlook is much hotter than its October 2025 forecast, when it expected 2026 spending to reach $6.084 trillion with 9.8% growth. The forecast has been revised upward twice in six months. (gartner.com 1) (gartner.com 2) (gartner.com 3) Outside Gartner’s forecast, CIO Dive said hyperscalers including Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are driving the buildout, and cited industry estimates that the three plan to spend more than $500 billion on artificial intelligence infrastructure this year. (ciodive.com) Gartner also said high-bandwidth memory prices are rising because demand is strong and supply is tight. That is helping semiconductor makers, while also pushing up device prices and slowing replacement cycles in lower-margin hardware segments. (gartner.com) The revised forecast says the artificial intelligence spending boom is no longer confined to experiments. It is showing up in servers, cloud infrastructure, software budgets and the price of the parts needed to run them. (gartner.com)
