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Worldwide AI Spending to Grow 47 Percent in 2026, With China Leading Growth

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Worldwide spending on AI is forecast to total $2.59 trillion in 2026, a 47 percent increase year-over-year, according to Gartner, Inc. a business and technology insights company. The firm says the $2.59 Trillion in AI spending will be dominated by vendors and hyperscalers.

“Through the next several years, the need for capacity will make AI infrastructure, including AI-optimized IaaS, AI-optimized servers, AI network fabric, AI processing semiconductors and devices, the largest segment of the market, accounting for over 45 percent of spending, which will be driven by vendors,” explained John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Within this segment, spending on AI-optimized servers will triple over the next five years to become the largest subsegment, as cloud services providers expand capacity in anticipation of the workloads created by GenAI models and agentic workflows.”

Gartner says enterprises will expand their use of both the GenAI models embedded in existing software applications and the new AI agents within multiple workflows. Model consumption will increase through multistep processes and integration into broad suites of tools as enterprises recognize the potential value of agentic automation. This dynamic means that the short-term outlook for AI models has been increased to 110 percent growth in 2026, adding $6 billion in spending for this year (see Table 1). 

Table 1: Worldwide AI Spending by Market, 2025-2027 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)

Market202520262027
AI Services436,351585,527759,418
AI Cybersecurity25,92051,34785,997
AI Software282,897453,209638,431
AI Models15,49432,60459,161
AI Platforms for Data Science and Machine Learning21,29229,92842,639
AI Application Development Platforms6,5878,41610,922
AI Data8263,1266,480
AI Infrastructure975,5811,431,5091,890,310
Total AI Spending1,764,9472,595,6673,493,358

Source: Gartner (May 2026)

“Up to this point, AI spending has primarily been driven by technology companies and hyperscalers,” said Lovelock. “Enterprises have yet to really flex their spending potential. That is coming and 2026 will be the inflection year. Currently, organizations show limited appetite for using AI to drive disruptive enterprise change. Instead, they favor tactical AI initiatives with incremental improvements in efficiency and productivity.

“For this reason, CIOs face challenges in proving the value from AI investments and demonstrate tangible business outcomes,” said Lovelock. “Aligning AI initiatives with strategic business objectives is the essential step for success. This incremental approach persists despite AI hype and valuations that reflect aspirations to transform the broader economy.”

Gartner clients can read more in Forecast: AI Spending, Worldwide, 2025-2030, 1Q26.

Growth Led by China

Meanwhile, market-research firm IDC says global AI spending will be led by China:

  • Global enterprise AI spending will reach $940 billion in 2026, growing to $2.1 trillion by 2029. (IDC, 2026)
  • China’s spending on embodied intelligence is forecast to grow from $1.4 billion to $77 billion in five years, a 94 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR). (IDC, 2026)
  • China’s MaaS (Model as a Service) market is growing at 1,154.9 percent CAGR (2024–2030), reaching 40,000 trillion Token calls in 2026. (IDC, 2026)
  • AI-native endpoints, Industrial AI, and the 15th Five-Year Plan are reshaping China’s digital economy.

According to Kitty Fok, managing director at IDC China, the first phase of the AI Supercycle was about computing power, foundational models, and infrastructure. The second phase — now underway — is about enterprise applications, Agentic AI, and intelligent services at scale.

“The global AI industry has entered a super cycle, and the market is now moving from infrastructure build-out to enterprise application explosion,” said Fok.

IDC also says that China is on track to become the world’s largest robotics market by 2029. Chinese manufacturers already lead global shipments across multiple categories. Spending on embodied intelligence in China will grow from $1.4 billion today to $77 billion within five years, a 94 percent CAGR, according to IDC research forecast.Gartner says enterprises will expand their use of both the GenAI models embedded in existing software applications and the new AI agents within multiple workflows.

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