Global technology spending is being reshaped by an unprecedented AI infrastructure build-out, with the cost increasingly passed on to enterprise customers through higher hardware and software prices. Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock told The Register that tech firms' own technology spending is around $1 trillion and set to grow 34.7 per cent in 2026, describing the AI infrastructure push as the largest infrastructure project in human history, dwarfing projects like the US highway system and the Great Wall of China combined.

Gartner has raised its overall 2026 global tech spending forecast to $6.37 trillion, up 14.2 per cent year-on-year and higher than its earlier estimates of $6.31 trillion in April and $6.15 trillion in February. Growth is uneven: devices are forecast to grow 9.8 per cent (partly due to pricier memory and chips), while services and telecoms grow more slowly at 5.3 and 4.4 per cent respectively; infrastructure-as-a-service is expanding fastest, up 29.3 per cent to $287 billion as firms build datacentre capacity for AI demand. CIOs are reportedly pushing back hard against price rises from vendors, with some success only in IT services, while questions remain over whether such price increases are sustainable or merely defensive moves to protect market share, as cheaper Chinese models and open-source alternatives emerge.