Global AI Spending Set to Skyrocket to $1.5 Trillion by 2025

Artificial intelligence investments are poised to hit unprecedented levels as businesses race to adopt transformative technology.

The Spending Surge

Global expenditure on AI solutions is projected to reach a staggering $1.5 trillion within the next year—a figure that makes even the most optimistic tech forecasts look conservative. Companies across every sector are allocating massive budgets to integrate AI into their operations.

Where the Money Flows

Enterprise adoption drives the bulk of investment, with manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services leading the charge. Infrastructure development and AI research consume significant portions of the budget as organizations build the foundation for long-term implementation.

The Productivity Payoff

Businesses aren't just spending—they're expecting returns. AI implementation already shows measurable efficiency gains, though whether the trillion-dollar investment will deliver proportional ROI remains Wall Street's favorite guessing game.

Just remember—when traditional finance finally wakes up to AI's potential, they'll probably still be using spreadsheets to track that $1.5 trillion.

The biggest expenses are on AI services, GPU servers, and AI smartphones

According to the Gartner forecast, the biggest spending in 2025 is on AI services at $282 billion, GenAI smartphones at $298 billion and AI application software expenditure reaching $172 billion. This will increase in 2026, with spending on AI services set to reach $324 billion, GenAI smartphones to $393 billion and AI applications to $269 billion.

MENA IT spending is set to reach $169 billion in 2026, fueled by data center investment. Saudi Arabia’s data center market is projected to grow from $1.33 billion in 2024 to $3.9 billion by 2030, while the U.S. data center market is currently valued at over $200 billion.

In August, another Gartner IT forecast for MENA found that IT spending across the region is set to reach $169 billion in 2026 – an 8.9% increase from the current year.

The biggest spending in MENA WOULD be on data centers, forecasted to grow in MENA by 37.3% in 2026, reaching nearly $13 billion. The acceleration in data center investment comes from an increased demand for generative AI and large-scale machine learning which require vast compute power.

Eyad Tachwali, Vice President, Advisory at Gartner. “The strongest demand is coming from hyperscalers, government entities, and AI-focused tech providers, rather than traditional enterprises.”

Saudi Arabia AI spending to reach $1.44 billion in 2025

In light of this global and regional investment in AI, IDC research noted that Saudi Arabia’s AI spending is set to hit $1.44B in 2025 and soar to $6.4B by 2030.

During the recent Money20/20 event in Saudi Arabia this month, AI took center stage, as Saudi Arabia is projected to reap nearly $135.2 billion from AI by 2030, equivalent to 12.4% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as per PWC.

Humain, a Saudi artificial intelligence company established under the Public Investment Fund to drive the Kingdom’s AI strategy, announced $23 billion investment targets for strategic industry partnerships, and $10 billion venture fund.

California-based AI company Groq in February secured a $1.5 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia for expanded delivery of its chips. In December, Groq built what it said was the region’s largest AI inference cluster in the kingdom.

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