Global AI spending forecast to top $4 trillion next year

Global artificial intelligence spending is projected to rise 47.5% to $4.05 trillion in 2027, with infrastructure accounting for nearly three-fifths of the total, research and consulting firm Gartner said Thursday.

Total AI spending is forecast to climb from about $2.75 trillion in 2026 as organizations expand adoption and technology providers build additional computing capacity.

John-David Lovelock, Gartner's chief of research, said faster-than-anticipated growth in user requirements is increasing demand for infrastructure to run AI applications and train increasingly computing-intensive models.

Spending on AI infrastructure is expected to increase 53% to approximately $2.4 trillion next year, representing 59% of worldwide AI expenditure, according to the company's release issued in Barcelona.

Spending on AI-optimized servers, the largest infrastructure segment, is projected to surge from $527.6 billion this year to $957.2 billion in 2027.

Gartner attributed the increase to continued infrastructure expansion by large cloud providers and specialized AI cloud companies, alongside rising server prices driven by memory costs.

AI services spending is expected to grow 29.5% to $746 billion, while spending on AI software is forecast to increase 42% to $649 billion.

Lovelock said service providers are helping organizations expand AI initiatives through strategy, data preparation, integration and deployment. Businesses are also increasing software budgets as vendors incorporate AI capabilities into existing products and introduce platforms to manage and govern their use.

Spending on AI cybersecurity is projected to reach $86 billion next year, up from $51 billion in 2026, while spending on AI agents and assistants is expected to more than double from $30 billion to $67 billion.

Meanwhile, spending on generative AI models is forecast to grow 82% to $51 billion, supported by demand for autonomous AI agents, applications combining different types of content and industry-specific capabilities.

Although spending on specialized and domain-specific models is projected to increase 99%, foundation models are expected to retain the largest share of generative AI model spending at 81% in 2027.