Chip Capacity Constraints Put a Governor on AI Spending Growth
The Next Platform, Friday, June 5th, 2026
Memory shortages are moderating AI infrastructure spending growth despite continued substantial investment increases.
Hardware memory limitations are beginning to slow the explosive growth in AI spending forecasts that characterized recent years.
According to Gartner's latest analysis, AI infrastructure spending increases are modest compared to previous projections, with pricing adjustments rather than capacity expansions driving near-term revenue gains.
AI spending's share of total IT budgets has surged dramatically, rising from 13.7% in 2024 to 31.7% in 2025, while non-AI spending contracted by 12.6%, indicating significant budget reallocation toward AI initiatives.
The author projects that aggregate AI spending may surpass non-AI IT spending in 2027, marking a historic shift in technology investment patterns. However, this trajectory depends on organizations demonstrating measurable returns on their substantial AI investments.