Global tech spending is set to expand in 2026 as major countries continue to strive for AI supremacy

Global technology spending is estimated to grow by nearly 8% in 2026 to $5.6 trillion. Asia, Pacific, and North American regions are expected to lead this revolutionary spending growth, as the world hurdles forward into an AI-centric future.

A new report by Forrester predicts a year in 2026 where global technology spending grows by 7.8% from $5.2 trillion in 2025 to $5.6 trillion. Global technology investment is currently accelerating at a rate not seen since the pandemic, with major countries like the U.S. and China in a race to supersede each other in technological advancements. This unprecedented spending growth is reshaping the global economic landscape and is mainly driven by the desire of nation-states to advance their capacity for artificial intelligence.

Forrester predicts that two-thirds of this surge in global tech spending will go towards building the foundational technology needed to run AI-like software and computer equipment. Data center development was a key focus of global investment in 2025, with demand for semiconductors, the advanced chips used in AI infrastructure, surging as well. These trends are anticipated to continue in the new year, with the International Monetary Fund predicting that AI-related investment and innovation could offset a slowdown of global economic growth caused by trade disputes and geopolitical tensions.

2025: a year of massive growth in AI-related spending

A large amount of global tech spending between 2024 and 2025 was driven by hyperscalers. These are a concentrated group of cloud service providers that operate numerous data centers for big tech giants like Google and Amazon. They are essentially the backbone of all AI development, providing the crucial infrastructure required to run AI applications and services.

The scale of their operation is massive, with the largest U.S. hyperscale companies estimated to have spent nearly $300 billion on AI investment in 2025. Synergy Research Group reports that in just Q3 of last year, hyperscaler spending reached $142 billion, with quarterly growth up nearly 200% over the last three years. This has allowed the United States to account for 55% of global hyperscale operational capacity.

Additional figures report that the total spending on artificial intelligence by the United States in 2025 was close to $450 billion. Chinese AI investment is estimated to have been over $100 billion USD in 2025, a nearly 50% growth in investment in the sector from 2024. The United Kingdom emerged as another major global player for AI investment last year as well, reportedly allocating over $28 billion. Canada and Israel are estimated to have both spent around $15 billion, with Germany and India both spending around $11 billion USD. This spending underscores the growing initiative by global superpowers to cement themselves as leading figures in the race for AI supremacy.

A new frontier for the global AI-arms race in 2026

S&P Global anticipates that global tech spending will grow by 9% in 2026, outpacing Forrester’s estimate of 7.8%. Hyperscalers and AI chip manufacturers are expected to be the largest beneficiaries of investment, with hyperscaler revenue from cloud services expected to grow by 20%, and the semiconductor industry growing by 24%. This data suggests that the global AI arms race is transitioning into a new chapter in 2026, where experimentation with new technologies continues to evolve into large-scale deployment. The leaders of this new frontier will be the ones with more access to capital, energy, and compute.

The growing valuation of prominent AI and tech companies amid this global spending surge has created increased concern over a potential AI market bubble. However, the majority of capital deployment, being directed at the buildout of large-scale infrastructure to support AI advancement, suggests a focus on long-term capacity opposed to speculation. Mass investment in data centers, semiconductors, and cloud computing infrastructure points to a future dedicated to tangible, structural economic expansion to support AI adoption globally.

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