AI Spending to Top $2T in 2026 as Investments Surge

Summary

• Rapid growth in global AI expenditure driven by infrastructure investments and technology integration.
• Saudi Arabia and MENA regions at the forefront of AI innovation and data center expansion.

On September 22, 2025 (UTC), Cryptopolitan reported that global spending on artificial intelligence is forecasted to reach $1.5 trillion in 2025 and surpass $2 trillion by 2026, according to Gartner. This growth is propelled by the integration of AI into devices like smartphones and PCs, alongside significant investments in infrastructure such as AI-optimized servers and services.

Key spending areas for 2025 include generative AI smartphones, AI services, and AI-enabled hardware. John David Lovelock, VP Analyst at Gartner, highlighted hyperscale cloud providers’ ramped-up investments in state-of-the-art data centers equipped with AI-specific hardware as a major driving force behind this expansion.

AI investments are diversifying globally, with Chinese tech firms and emerging AI cloud startups challenging traditional U.S. market dominance. In addition to U.S. initiatives, strong regional efforts are concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a particular focus on AI-optimized infrastructure and data center projects. The U.S. maintains a robust data center market valued at over $200 billion.

In the MENA region, IT spending is anticipated to grow significantly, hitting an estimated $169 billion by 2026. Investments in data centers are expected to rise by 37.3%, reaching a valuation of over $13 billion. Demand for generative AI tools and large-scale machine learning applications drives substantial requirements for advanced computing solutions across the region.

Saudi Arabia is emerging as a global hub for AI innovation. AI spending within the kingdom is projected to grow from $1.44 billion in 2025 to $6.4 billion by 2030. Gartner forecasts AI contributions to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP) to reach $135.2 billion by 2030, accounting for 12.4% of total GDP.

Strategic domestic investments are supporting this trend. Saudi-based AI company Humain, backed by the Public Investment Fund, has announced $23 billion in industry partnerships and a $10 billion venture fund aimed at accelerating AI innovation. U.S.-based Groq secured a $1.5 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia earlier this year and set up a significant AI inference cluster to deliver advanced chips to the region.

At the time of publication on September 22, 2025, Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $1,642, with a 2.8% uptick in 24-hour trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap.