AI infrastructure is growing rapidly, pushing spending to exceed $400 billion, while most organizations are becoming cautious with investments and prefer to expand through their existing software providers.
Gartner, a leading global technology research and advisory firm, revealed that global spending on artificial intelligence in 2026 is expected to reach $2.52 trillion, representing a 44% growth compared to the previous year.
However, this growth comes with changes in investment behavior among businesses. John-David Lovelock, Vice President of Research at Gartner, noted that success in AI implementation today no longer depends solely on the amount of money spent. Instead, the key focus has shifted to personnel readiness and internal workflows. Organizations with better technological understanding are beginning to reduce trend-driven investments and instead prioritize business-proven measurable outcomes.
The AI trend in 2026 is entering what is called the Trough of Disillusionment, a phase where initial excitement about technology fades due to unmet high expectations. This situation causes most organizations to pause complex and high-risk projects and instead purchase AI solutions from their existing software providers for greater confidence in support and easier integration with current systems. Clear measurement of return on investment becomes the most critical factor before organizations decide to expand AI usage more broadly in the future.
In the service provider industry, infrastructure development remains the main driver of market spending. AI-optimized servers are expected to grow by 49% in 2026, accounting for 17% of the total AI spending value.
Additionally, the continued infrastructure investments by major technology providers add over $401 billion to overall spending. This reflects that while businesses are becoming more cautious in AI adoption, manufacturers and cloud providers still need to invest heavily to prepare for continuously increasing demands for complex processing capabilities.
