IT spending in Asia Pacific (including Japan) is expected to reach US$1.78 trillion this year, up 11.8 per cent from 2025, according to Gartner’s latest forecasts this month.
This spending will be largely driven by data centre systems, where spending in Asia Pacific is set to see the largest growth at 63.1 percent and total US$232 billion in 2026.
Communications services, which includes fixed connectivity, mobile connectivity and unified communications, will form the next largest overall spending, surpassing US$496.5 billion this year, followed by IT services at US$441.2 billion.
“This latest forecast underscores the accelerating momentum in AI infrastructure and advanced memory,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner.
“As AI workloads scale, data centre investment is ramping rapidly, which in turn is driving increased demand for high-performance compute. This dynamic is creating meaningful growth opportunities for companies delivering AI-optimised processors, accelerators, and enabling technologies.”
Globally, IT spending is expected to reach US$6.31 trillion in 2026, up a higher 13.5 percent from 2025 when compared to Asia’s 11.8 percent.
Data centre systems spending is set to see the largest global growth in 2026 at 55.8 percent. IT services, including application implementation and managed infrastructure implementation and managed services and IaaS, is forecast to see the largest overall spending, surpassing $1.87 billion this year.
In its forecast, Gartner said that as cloud adoption matures around the world, enterprises are shifting their focus from migration to modernisation. Hybrid infrastructure is now the standard — one which combines compute, storage, networking and cloud platforms into a single, dynamic environment.
AI infrastructure, software, and IaaS spending becoming key
Gartner is also seeing a sustained momentum across AI infrastructure, software, and IaaS. These shifts are reinforcing a multi-speed IT market, with hyperscaler purchases and AI-centric software segments significantly outperforming more traditional categories.
GenAI continues to drive outsized gains in software, particularly in GenAI model development, where spending growth is forecast to more than double year-over-year.
While device spending is also rising, reaching an estimated $856 billion, the growth there is being moderated by higher memory costs that are lifting average selling prices and constraining replacement cycles in lower-margin segments.
“Together, these dynamics highlight a widening divergence across IT markets, as AI infrastructure and GenAI software see substantial upward revisions while device growth reflects ongoing cost and pricing pressures,” said Lovelock.
