AI set to boost cloud spending — again: S&P Global

Hyperscalers will increase capital spending by nearly 40% in a race to build out AI infrastructure, while enterprises wait for their investments to pay off.

Dive Brief: 

• Capital expenditures by cloud service providers are expected to increase by almost 40% in 2026, to nearly $600 billion, according to a report from S&P Global. Last year, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Meta and Oracle spent a combined total of $437 billion, a significant increase of 68% year over year. 
• AI-related spend constitutes almost one-quarter of all IT spend, which will increase 9% globally in 2026, “propelled by an insatiable AI infrastructure buildout,” according to S&P. 
• Hyperscalers will see continued cloud revenue growth above 20% throughout the year, while enterprise IT budgets might tighten depending on whether businesses start to see a return from their AI investments, S&P predicts.