Gartner forecasts that worldwide spending on AI will total $2,670,460 million in 2026, a 49.5% increase year over year. Investors are moving just as fast: AI firms accounted for 61% of global venture capital (VC) investment in 2025, or $258.7 billion out of a total $427.1 billion, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The AI market statistics below trace where that money goes and who is using what it buys.
Most of that money flows to data centers, chips, and a small group of model labs, while ordinary businesses adopt AI far more slowly. Overall AI usage hovered between 17% and 20% of US businesses from December 2025 to May 2026, per the Census Bureau, and 19.95% of EU enterprises used AI technologies in 2025, per Eurostat. Each section draws on primary sources: forecasts, investment data, company results and official surveys.
Key Takeaways
- Gartner raised its forecast for 2026 worldwide AI spending from $2,527,845 million in January to $2,595,667 million in May and $2,670,460 million in September.
- Alphabet’s purchases of property and equipment rose from $23,953 million ($24.0 billion) in Q3 2025 to $44,924 million ($44.9 billion) in Q2 2026, and its Q2 2026 free cash flow was negative $5,855 million ($5.9 billion).
- AI infrastructure makes up about 55.6% of Gartner’s 2026 worldwide AI spending forecast in its September 2026 table.
- Firms based in the United States attracted about 75% ($194 billion) of global AI VC deal value in 2025.
- Global corporate AI investments hit $581.7 billion in 2025, up 130% from the prior year, per Stanford’s AI Index.
- NVIDIA’s Data Center revenue was $89.0 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, up 117% from a year ago.
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- Worldwide AI spending, 2027 forecast: $3,637,292 million in Gartner’s September 2026 table.
- Private AI investment, 2025: $344.7 billion, an increase of 127.5% from 2024.
- NVIDIA quarterly revenue: $96,221 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2027, up 106% from a year ago.
- Anthropic run-rate revenue: crossed $47 billion by its Series H announcement.
- Microsoft Azure: Azure revenue surpassed $100 billion for the first time in the fiscal year to June 30, 2026.
- AI share of global VC, 2022: 30%, before AI’s share more than doubled by 2025.
- Large EU enterprises using AI, 2025: 55.03%.
AI Market Statistics: Global AI Spending Forecast for 2026
- AI infrastructure spending is forecast at $1,484,397 million in 2026, up from $981,920 million in 2025.
- AI services spending reaches $576,481 million in 2026 and $745,655 million in 2027.
- AI software spending rises from $288,168 million in 2025 to $461,637 million in 2026.
- AI cybersecurity spending is forecast at $51,347 million in 2026, up from $25,920 million in 2025.
- Gartner expects transformation and indirect projects to drive a $1.2 trillion opportunity in AI services by 2030.
| Market | 2025 ($ millions) | 2026 ($ millions) | 2027 ($ millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Infrastructure | 981,920 | 1,484,397 | 1,977,685 |
| AI Services | 434,046 | 576,481 | 745,655 |
| AI Software | 288,168 | 461,637 | 656,353 |
| AI Cybersecurity | 25,920 | 51,347 | 85,997 |
| Total AI Spending (all nine markets) | 1,786,671 | 2,670,460 | 3,637,292 |
Source: Gartner, September 2026
About This Data
Figures are compiled from 15 sources: 8 company filings and announcements, 3 Gartner forecast releases, 3 government and intergovernmental statistics releases, and 1 Stanford University report. They were published between January 2026 and September 2026. Only primary publishers of the data qualified, and paid market-research estimates were excluded. Figures are reviewed on a rolling basis and updated when sources publish new editions.
How Gartner’s AI Spending Forecast Changed in 2026
- Worldwide spending on AI was forecast to total $2,527,845 million in 2026, a 44% increase year over year, in Gartner’s January 2026 edition.
- Gartner’s May 2026 forecast put worldwide spending on AI at $2,595,667 million in 2026, a 47% increase year over year.
- Gartner’s 2026 total rose by $142,615 million across the three editions, reaching $2,670,460 million in September.
- The 2027 total rose by $300,602 million between the January and September tables, a bigger upgrade than the one for 2026.
- The short-term outlook for AI application development platforms increased from 28% growth in 2026 in the previous forecast to 39%.
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Recent Developments
- September 16, 2026: Gartner said demand for AI infrastructure remains strong and inelastic to pressures from memory-related pricing increases.
- August 26, 2026: NVIDIA reported revenue of $96,221 million ($96.2 billion) for the quarter ended July 26, 2026 and expects third-quarter revenue of $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%.
- July 30, 2026: Amazon said AWS segment sales increased 37% year over year to $42,232 million, and its AI and Chips businesses each eclipsed run rates of more than $25 billion.
- July 29, 2026: Microsoft said Microsoft Cloud revenue was $59.3 billion, up 27% year over year, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats.
- July 29, 2026: Meta narrowed its 2026 capital expenditures outlook, including principal payments on finance leases, to $130 billion to $145 billion, from a prior outlook of $125 billion to $145 billion.
- July 22, 2026: Alphabet said Google Cloud revenues increased 82% to $24.8 billion.
AI Agents, Models and Platform Spending
- Spending on AI agents and assistants is forecast at $29,219 million in 2026 and $65,472 million in 2027.
- Gartner raised the 2026 growth rate for generative AI models from 110% in the previous forecast to 117%.
- Gartner has separated cross-functional agents and assistants from AI software and added consumer agents and assistants into the AI spending forecast.
- Gartner’s May 2026 forecast had AI Models at $32,604 million for 2026; the September edition lists the row as Generative AI Models.
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AI Infrastructure Spending Statistics
- Building AI foundations alone will drive a 49% increase in spending on AI-optimized servers for 2026, representing 17% of total AI spending, per Gartner’s January 2026 forecast.
- Gartner’s May 2026 edition expects AI infrastructure to be the largest segment of the market, accounting for over 45% of spending through the next several years, a multi-year statement; the September table puts the 2026 share at about 55.6%.
- Spending on AI-optimized servers will triple over the next five years to become the largest subsegment, per Gartner’s May edition.
- Gartner’s September 2026 table puts AI Infrastructure at $1,977,685 million for 2027.
- Stanford’s AI Index reports that AI data center power capacity rose to 29.6 GW.
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Why it matters: Gartner’s January 2026 forecast said AI infrastructure will add $401 billion in spending in 2026 as a result of technology providers building out AI foundations, before the May and September editions raised the 2026 infrastructure figure. That ties market growth to the capital budgets of hyperscalers and chip buyers more than to enterprise demand.
AI Venture Capital Investment by Country
- AI’s share of global VC more than doubled from 30% in 2022 to 61% in 2025.
- US-based firms attracted about 75% ($194 billion) of global AI VC deal value.
- AI firms focused on IT infrastructure and hosting attracted $109.3 billion in 2025 alone.
- Cumulative VC investment in AI firms focused on IT infrastructure and hosting totaled $256.1 billion between 2012 and 2025.
- Individual deals behind those totals, from seed rounds to multibillion-dollar raises, are logged in our AI funding rounds tracker.
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What percentage of the market is in AI?
Measured by venture funding, AI is now most of the market. AI firms accounted for 61% of global VC investment in 2025, more than doubling AI’s share since 2022, the OECD found. None of the primary sources here measures AI as a share of total IT spending, so the VC share is the cleanest market-share figure available.
Where AI Venture Capital Comes From
- VC investors in the United States represented about 56% ($124 billion) of the worldwide value of outgoing VC investments in AI in 2025.
- Mega deals exceeding $100 million accounted for about 73% of total AI investment value in 2025.
- Deals above $1 billion represent roughly half of total AI investment value.
- US-based AI firms attracted $70 billion more than US investors deployed in AI worldwide, which points to foreign capital filling part of US rounds.
| Investor location | Outgoing AI VC, 2025 ($ billions) | Share of worldwide value |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 124 | about 56% |
| United Kingdom | 20.7 | 9% |
| China | 17.2 | 8% |
| EU27 | 14.5 | 7% |
Source: OECD, February 2026
Corporate and Private AI Investment
- US investments of $285.9 billion were 23.1 times greater than those of the next-highest country, China, at $12.4 billion.
- Stanford’s AI Index cautions that comparisons based solely on private investment likely understate the amount of capital China is directing toward AI.
- Between 2000 and 2023, an estimated $912 billion of Chinese government guidance funds were deployed across industries, including AI.
| Measure, 2025 | Value |
|---|---|
| Global corporate AI investment | $581.7 billion |
| Corporate investment growth from 2024 | 130% |
| Global private AI investment | $344.7 billion |
| Private investment growth from 2024 | 127.5% |
| US AI investment | $285.9 billion |
| China AI investment | $12.4 billion |
Source: Stanford HAI, AI Index 2026
Big Tech Capital Spending
- Alphabet’s purchases of property and equipment rose from $23,953 million ($24.0 billion) in Q3 2025 to $44,924 million ($44.9 billion) in Q2 2026.
- Alphabet’s purchases of property and equipment totaled $132,402 million ($132.4 billion) over the trailing twelve months to Q2 2026.
- Meta’s capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $31.08 billion in Q2 2026, and its free cash flow was $784 million.
- Amazon’s free cash flow decreased to an outflow of $7.6 billion for the trailing twelve months, driven primarily by a year-over-year increase of $66.1 billion in purchases of property and equipment, net of proceeds from sales and incentives, which primarily reflects investments in artificial intelligence.
- The same capital cycle shows up as new capacity in the cloud services market data, where AWS, Azure and Google Cloud book the revenue.
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The takeaway: Alphabet’s Q2 2026 free cash flow was negative $5,855 million ($5.9 billion) and Amazon’s trailing twelve-month free cash flow was an outflow of $7.6 billion. Two of the largest cloud builders are now funding new capacity faster than their operations generate cash, which makes their next capital guidance a key number for the whole AI market.
NVIDIA AI Chip Revenue Statistics
- NVIDIA reported revenue of $96,221 million ($96.2 billion) for the second quarter ended July 26, 2026, up 18% from the previous quarter and up 106% from a year ago.
- Data Center revenue was $89.0 billion, up 18% from the previous quarter and up 117% from a year ago.
- Data Center made up about 92.5% of NVIDIA’s second-quarter revenue.
- Gross margins were 75.0% for the quarter.
- NVIDIA’s outlook calls for third-quarter revenue of $108.0 billion, plus or minus 2%.
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AI Lab Revenue and Valuations
- Anthropic said its run-rate revenue has now surpassed $30 billion at the time of its Google and Broadcom compute deal.
- Anthropic’s run-rate revenue grew over 10 times annually in each of the three years before its Series G.
- Anthropic raised $65 billion in Series H funding at a $965 billion post-money valuation, up from a $380 billion post-money valuation in its $30 billion Series G.
- Business customers each spending over $1 million on an annualized basis rose from over 500 to more than 1,000, doubling in less than two months.
- How that pace compares with its main rival is covered in our OpenAI vs Anthropic revenue comparison.
| Milestone | Anthropic run-rate revenue |
|---|---|
| End of 2025 | approximately $9 billion |
| Series G announcement | $14 billion |
| Google and Broadcom compute deal | more than $30 billion |
| Series H announcement | more than $47 billion |
Source: Anthropic funding and partnership announcements, 2026
AI Adoption Among US Businesses
- Between 20% and 23% of businesses expected to be using AI in the next six months, per the Census Bureau’s Business Trends and Outlook Survey.
- AI use rates in the Information sector were 39.7% as of May 3, 2026, the highest group in the chart below.
- 37% of firms with at least 250 employees reported using AI in their business operations.
- Around 14% of Retail Trade businesses currently use AI, and about 17% expect to in the next six months.
- Company-reported adoption is only part of the picture, since staff also use tools their employers never approved, as our shadow AI usage figures show.
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Worth noting: The national AI use rate was 19.8% as of May 3, 2026, while worldwide AI spending is forecast to total $2,670,460 million in 2026. With fewer than one in five US businesses using AI, much of that spending appears to be suppliers building capacity ahead of business demand.
AI Adoption in EU Businesses by Country
- Compared with 2024, the use of AI technologies by EU enterprises increased by 6.47 percentage points.
- The highest share was recorded in Denmark, at 42.03%, and the lowest in Romania, at 5.21%.
- In 2025, 26 EU countries recorded higher shares of enterprises using AI technologies compared with 2024.
- The highest increases were recorded in Denmark (14.45 percentage points), Finland (13.45 percentage points) and Lithuania (12.54 percentage points).
- AI was used the most by enterprises in the information and communication sector.
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AI Adoption by Company Size
- In 2025, 55.03% of large EU enterprises used AI technologies.
- Large EU enterprises were about 3.2 times as likely as small ones to use AI in 2025.
- In the US, AI use increased among firms with at least 20 employees but didn’t change significantly among firms with fewer than 20 employees between December 2025 and May 2026.
- Less than 20% of US firms with four or fewer employees reported using AI.
- In the data collection period ending May 3, 2026, 32% of US firms with 100 to 249 employees said they used AI.
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How is the AI market right now?
The largest cloud suppliers are still posting steep revenue growth. Azure and other cloud services revenue increased 43% in Microsoft’s June quarter, Google Cloud revenues increased 82% in Alphabet’s, and Gartner raised its 2026 growth rate for generative AI models to 117%. The open question is whether business adoption catches up with that spending.
Conclusion
Worldwide AI spending is forecast to total $2,670,460 million in 2026, and AI firms took 61% of global VC investment in 2025. The spending side of the AI market is concentrated in infrastructure, a few cloud builders and a few model labs, and the adoption side has not caught up: roughly one in five businesses on both sides of the Atlantic report using AI.
Gartner’s September table already puts 2027 spending at $3,637,292 million, and NVIDIA expects third-quarter revenue of $108.0 billion. If adoption stays near current levels, the pressure will land on the cash flow of the biggest spenders and on the jobs AI is meant to change.
