Worldwide AI spending could hit $1.5 trillion by the end of 2025

Getty Images/BlackJack3D Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways Global AI spending has been on an upward trajectory. These expenditures will top $2 trillion in 2026. GenAI smartphones, AI-optimized servers lead spending. The AI boom has triggered widespread interest in AI adoption to optimize business processes and individual workflows. This demand has also been a catalyst for large-scale investments in AI infrastructure to support those goals, and a new Gartner forecast shows that momentum isn't slowing down anytime soon. The research firm published its latest AI spending forecast, which projects that in 2025, the market will reach $1.5 trillion, and by 2026, it will top $2 trillion. This is slightly more than double spending in 2024. Much of this spending is also defined by the continuous expansion of AI into products, with GenAI smartphones being the biggest project spending category in 2026, over AI services. Also: Gartner says add AI agents ASAP - or else. Oh, and they're also overhyped "The forecast assumes continued investment in AI infrastructure expansion, as major hyperscalers continue to increase investments in data centers with AI-optimized hardware and GPUs to scale their services," said John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner. The company created a table detailing the breakdown of the AI Spending in IT Markets forecast, which you can see below. Market 2024 2025 2026 AI Services 259,477 282,556 324,669 AI Application Software 83,679 172,029 269,703 AI Infrastructure Software 56,904 126,177 229,825 GenAI Models 5,719 14,200 25,766 AI-optimized Servers (GPU and Non-GPU AI Accelerators) 140,107 267,534 329,528 AI-optimized IaaS 7,447 18,325 37,507 AI Processing Semiconductors 138,813 209,192 267,934 AI PCs by ARM and x86 51,023 90,432 144,413 GenAI Smartphones 244,735 298,189 393,297 Total AI Spending 987,904 1,478,634 2,022,642 Credit: Gartner A metric that stood out to me was the growth in demand for AI services, AI application software, and GenAI models. As ZDNET has previously reported, many businesses adopting AI applications or services are not seeing a clear return on investment. I figured this would discourage further investment, but it seems that the promise will be enough to keep these investments going. Want to follow my work? Add ZDNET as a trusted source on Google.