Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 10.8% in 2026, Reaching $6.15 Trillion
Worldwide IT spending is projected to reach $6.15 trillion in 2026, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 10.8%, according to the latest forecast released by Gartner, Inc., a global leader in business and technology insights. The outlook underscores the continued momentum of digital investment worldwide, driven primarily by expanding artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure spending.
John-David Lovelock, Distinguished Vice President Analyst at Gartner, noted that growth in AI infrastructure remains rapid despite growing concerns about the formation of an AI-related market bubble. He explained that spending continues to rise across AI-related hardware and software, with hyperscale cloud service providers playing a central role in driving investments in servers optimized for AI workloads.
Spending on servers is expected to accelerate significantly in 2026, posting year-over-year growth of 36.9%. Total spending on data centers is also projected to increase sharply, growing by 31.7% and surpassing $650 billion in 2026, compared with nearly $500 billion in the previous year. This reflects sustained demand for computing power, storage, and networking capacity to support AI and data-intensive applications.
Software spending is forecast to deliver the second-highest growth rate among IT segments in 2026, despite a slight downward revision. Growth for software spending has been adjusted to 14.7%, down marginally from the earlier estimate of 15.2% for both application and infrastructure software. Nevertheless, total software spending is expected to remain above $1.4 trillion during the year.
Lovelock emphasized that projections for generative AI model spending in 2026 remain unchanged, with growth expected to reach 80.8%. Generative AI continues to demonstrate strong momentum, and its share of the overall software market is anticipated to increase by 1.8% in 2026, highlighting its growing influence across enterprise technology portfolios.
In contrast, growth in the devices market is expected to slow in 2026. While shipments of mobile phones, personal computers, and tablets are continuing to grow at a steady pace, total spending on devices is projected to reach $836 billion, with growth easing to 6.1% due to market demand constraints.
According to Lovelock, the slowdown in device growth is largely attributable to rising memory prices, which are driving up average selling prices and discouraging consumers and enterprises from replacing devices as frequently. Higher memory costs are also contributing to shortages in the lower end of the market, where profit margins are thinner, collectively resulting in more subdued growth in device shipments.
Gartner’s IT spending forecast is based on a rigorous methodology that includes detailed analysis of sales data from more than a thousand vendors across the full spectrum of IT products and services. The company combines primary research with secondary research sources to build a comprehensive database of market size information, which serves as the foundation for its spending projections.
The quarterly Gartner IT spending forecast provides a distinctive perspective on spending trends across hardware, software, IT services, and telecommunications. These insights enable Gartner clients to better understand market opportunities and challenges and to make more informed strategic decisions. The latest IT spending forecast research is available to Gartner clients through the Gartner Market Databook, 4Q25 Update.
Additional insights into the forecast are also available through the complimentary Gartner webinar titled IT Spending Forecast 4Q25: Navigating GenAI’s Trough of Disillusionment.
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