U.S. enterprise spending jumps 12%
- Gartner now expects worldwide IT spending to rise 10.8% in 2026 to $6.15 trillion, with software and AI infrastructure leading the increase. (gartner.com) - U.S. tech spending looks strong too: Forrester sees 8.3% growth to $2.9 trillion, while security spending alone is projected to climb 12.5%. (forrester.com) - The backdrop is mixed — core inflation has cooled more than headline CPI, but it still sits above the Fed’s 2% target. (bea.gov)
Enterprise tech budgets are still going up fast in 2026. But the clean version of the story — “U.S. enterprise spending jumped 12%” — turns out to be too fuzzy. The real picture is a little messier and more useful. Different firms are measuring different slices of spending, and the numbers cluster around high-single-digit to low-double-digit growth, with software, security, and AI infrastructure doing most of the heavy lifting. (gartner.com) ### Where does the “12%” come from? The closest clean match is security. (forrester.com) Gartner says end-user spending on information security is projected to rise 12.5% in 2026, to $240 billion, after reaching $213 billion in 2025. That is a real double-digit enterprise spending number, but it is not the same thing as total U.S. enterprise IT spending. (bea.gov) ### So what is the broader spending number? For the broader market, Gartner forecasts worldwide IT spending of $6.15 trillion in 2026, up 10.8% from 2025. Forrester’s U.S. forecast is a bit lower but still strong — 8.3% growth to $2.9 trillion in 2026, including enterprise, government, and tech staffing costs. Basically, the direction is clear even if the exact “12%” claim is too broad. (forrester.com) ### What are companies actually buying? Software and AI infrastructure are carrying the market. Gartner says AI spending will hit $2.52 trillion worldwide in 2026, up 44% year over year, with infrastructure buildouts doing much of the work. It also flagged software as an area with continued upside, even after trimming some expectations for infrastructure software in 2025. (gartner.com) ### Why does that matter more than hardware? Because this looks less like a broad “everything is booming” cycle and more like a targeted efficiency cycle. Companies will spend on tools that automate work, harden security, and support AI rollouts even when they stay cautious elsewhere. That usually helps software vendors, cloud platforms, cybersecurity firms, and service providers more than plain-vanilla device makers. (gartner.com) ### Is inflation actually cooling? Sort of — but not cleanly. Core CPI was up 2.6% year over year in March 2026, while core PCE was up 3.2%. Headline numbers ran hotter: CPI rose 3.3% and headline PCE 3.5% in March. So the “cooling inflation” line works better for some measures than others, and the Fed is still above its 2% target. (gartner.com) ### Why keep spending if rates are still high? Because a lot of this spending is now framed as necessary, not optional. Security budgets are hard to cut. AI infrastructure is becoming table stakes. And if a software tool can replace labor hours or speed up decision-making, finance teams can justify it even in a higher-rate world. That is the key shift — tech is being sold as cost control and productivity, not just experimentation. (forrester.com) ### What should investors and operators take from this? Don’t anchor on one social-post number. The stronger takeaway is that enterprise tech demand in 2026 is real, but concentrated. If you want the cleanest read, watch software, cybersecurity, AI infrastructure, and the services wrapped around them. (bls.gov) The catch is that not every tech category gets to come along for the ride. ### Bottom line? The “12% jump” is too imprecise to use as a headline fact for all U.S. enterprise spending. But the underlying story holds up — business tech budgets are rising solidly in 2026, and the money is flowing first to efficiency, security, and AI. (forrester.com)
