Gartner forecasts $6.37T IT spending in 2026

Gartner, Inc. released its latest forecast for worldwide IT spending, projecting a 14.2% increase to $6.37 trillion in 2026, driven by investments in AI infrastructure, cloud platforms, and intelligent applications. Data center systems spending is expected to surge 62.5% to $822 billion, while IaaS spending will grow 29.3% to $287 billion. Software spending is forecast to rise 15.5% to $1.47 trillion. The report highlights that AI-related infrastructure is the primary growth driver, with hyperscalers like Amazon — Amazon Web Services, Microsoft — Microsoft Azure, and Alphabet Inc. — Google Cloud Platform rapidly expanding capacity. However, Gartner warns that technology budgets face pressure from inflation, supply shortages, and rising hardware costs, and that growth is concentrated in AI segments rather than across the entire IT market.