Gartner: How the AI Boom sees Global IT Spend Hit US$5.6tn

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Gartner suggests that IT services companies and hyperscalers will account for more than 70% of spending in 2025
Gartner research shows hyperscalers will operate US$1tn of AI-optimised servers by 2028, as cloud providers dominate the market for AI infrastructure

Enterprise technology spending will reach US$5.61tn in 2025, with data centre infrastructure leading growth at 23.2% year-on-year, according to research firm Gartner's latest market forecast.

Data centre systems spending will grow to US$405bn, driven by investments in AI infrastructure and computing systems designed to process machine learning workloads.

Gartner predicts spending on AI-optimised servers will reach US$202bn, exceeding investment in standard server hardware. Technology service providers and cloud computing companies, known as hyperscalers, will control this market.

VP Analyst at Gartner, John-David Lovelock

“IT services companies and hyperscalers account for over 70% of spending in 2025,” says John Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner, a technology research and advisory firm. 

“By 2028, hyperscalers will operate US$1tn worth of AI-optimised servers, but not within their traditional business model or Infrastructure-as-a-Service market.”

Hyperscalers dominate AI infrastructure spending

The news from Gartner comes at the same time as those within the data centre industry are looking to enact significant overhauls to their infrastructure strategies to support AI.

For instance, the UK government recognised the need to expand its infrastructure to support economic growth. Plans from UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves included speeding up data centre planning to provide the building blocks required to power AI faster and more effectively. 

Key moments from Rachel Reeves’ speech:
  • The UK government is investing 2.6% of GDP over the next five years to deliver an extra £100bn (US$124bn) which “catalyses private sector investments” for key industries, including the energy sector
  • The IMF has updated the UK’s growth prospects for 2025, which Rachel Reeves states gives the country the “fastest growth of any major European economy this year”

According to Gartner, the software segment will grow 14.2% to US$1.24tn worldwide, while IT services spending will increase 9% to US$1.73tn, according to Gartner. Likewise, device spending, covering computers and mobile hardware, will grow 10.4% to US$810bn.

Communications services, encompassing telecommunications and networking services, projects 3.8% growth to US$1.42tn - the lowest growth rate across major IT spending categories.

The concentration of AI infrastructure spending among major cloud providers indicates a shift in market dynamics, as these firms position themselves to control the development of AI models - software systems that can generate content from training data.

Gartner’s predicted 2025 growth:
  • Data Centre Systems: 23.2%
  • Devices: 10.4%
  • Software: 14.2
  • It services: 9%
  • Communications services: 3.8%

“While budgets for Chief Information Officers are increasing, a significant portion will merely offset price increases within their recurrent spending,” says John. “This means that, in 2025, nominal spending versus real IT spending will be skewed, with price hikes absorbing some or all of budget growth. 

“All major categories are reflecting higher-than-expected prices, prompting CIOs to defer and scale back their true budget expectations.”

Supporting the AI hardware market

Despite hardware upgrades to support Gen AI systems - AI that can create content from training data - functionality differences remain limited.

Gartner suggests the market for Gen AI technology shows signs of entering what it terms the “trough of disillusionment” - a period where interest decreases as implementations fail to deliver expected results.

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This shift reflects changing market expectations rather than reduced investment in AI infrastructure. The research firm notes that organisations continue to invest in infrastructure to support emerging technologies while managing ongoing operational costs.

“The new AI ready PCs do not yet have 'must have' applications that utilise the hardware,” John notes. “While both consumers and businesses will purchase AI-enabled PC, tablets and mobile phones, those purchases will not be overly influenced by the Gen AI functionality.”

"Hyperscalers are pivoting to be part of the oligopoly AI model market," John says, referring to the consolidation of AI infrastructure among major cloud service providers.


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