Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Grow 9.8% in 2026, Exceeding $6 Trillion For the First Time
AI Infrastructure and Devices Will Continue to Drive Demand
Worldwide IT spending is expected to total $6.08 trillion in 2026, an increase of 9.8% from 2025, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc., a business and technology insights company.
Gartner analysts are discussing the trends that are impacting the IT market during Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo, taking place here through Thursday.
"The uncertainty pause that began in the second quarter of 2025 started to alleviate in the third quarter and a significant budget flush is anticipated before the end of the year," said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. "Despite being in the trough of disillusionment in 2026, GenAI features are now ubiquitous across software already owned and operated by enterprises and these features cost more money, aligning with this flush. The cost of software is going up and both the cost of features and functionality is going up as well thanks to GenAI.
"However, not all segments will experience this flush uniformly," said Lovelock. "Software and services spending growth in 2025 does not recover in the same way as devices and data center systems. For instance, vertical-specific software spending has been slightly more affected, as vertical-industry-level software buyers are more sensitive to the policy changes and business uncertainties (see Table 1)."
Table 1. Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Millions of U.S. Dollars) |
||||
2025 Spending |
2025 Growth (%) |
2026 Spending |
2026 Growth (%) |
|
Data Center Systems |
489,451 |
46.8 |
582,446 |
19.0 |
Devices |
783,157 |
8.4 |
836,275 |
6.8 |
Software |
1,244,308 |
11.9 |
1,433,037 |
15.2 |
IT Services |
1,719,340 |
6.5 |
1,869,269 |
8.7 |
Communications Services |
1,304,165 |
3.8 |
1,363,058 |
4.5 |
Overall IT |
5,540,421 |
10.0 |
6,084,085 |
9.8 |
Source: Gartner (October 2025) |
||||
AI Infrastructure and Devices Drive Demand
Solid mobile phones and PCs shipment data over the first half of 2025 reported by vendors support the devices market's strong growth projection for 2025, with spending expected to reach $783 billion in 2025, an increase of over 8.4% from the previous year. Spending on devices in 2026 is expected to be strong, but a bit slower.
"This growth in 2025 is mainly driven by stronger-than-expected spending on mobile phones," said Lovelock. "The availability of AI devices has also boosted overall spending by more than $30 billion. With the replacement cycle unchanged, the stronger performance in 2025 will result in a lower relative growth rate for 2026, as demand has been pulled forward.
"In other areas, such as data center systems, the race to build AI infrastructure has further increased demand and growth expectations for data center servers, especially AI-optimized server racks. However, server demand growth remains limited by supply constraints," continued Lovelock.
Gartner's IT spending forecast methodology relies heavily on rigorous analysis of the sales by over a thousand vendors across the entire range of IT products and services. Gartner uses primary research techniques, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a comprehensive database of market size data on which to base its forecast.
The Gartner quarterly IT spending forecast delivers a unique perspective on IT spending across the hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications segments. These reports help Gartner clients understand market opportunities and challenges. The most recent IT spending forecast research is available to Gartner clients in Gartner Market Databook, 3Q25 Update.
More information on the forecast can be found in the complimentary Gartner webinar IT Spending Forecast, 3Q25 Update: How The Intelligence Supercycle Will Transform IT Buying.
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About Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo
Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is the world's most important gathering for CIOs and other IT executives. CIOs and IT executives rely on these conferences to learn how to become agents of change in their organizations and harness AI for successful digital transformation. Follow news and updates from the conference on X and LinkedIn using #GartnerSYM, and on the Gartner Newsroom.
Upcoming dates and locations for Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo include:
October 28-30, 2025 | Yokohama, Japan
November 10-13, 2025 | Barcelona, Spain
November 17-19, 2025 | Kochi, India
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Matt LoDolce
Gartner
[email protected]
Meghan Moran
Gartner
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