IT spending in Europe is projected to total $1,4-trillion in 2026, an increase of 11,1% from 2025, according to the latest forecast by Gartner.
The research group adds that IT spending in Europe is on pace to reach $1,3-trillion by the end of 2025.
“AI, cloud, and cybersecurity are driving the rise in IT spending for European organisations in 2026,” says John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner. “Despite IT budget constraints and minimal headcount growth, CIOs in Europe will be spending heavily on software to access new AI features from their current providers. Gartner projects end user spending on GenAI models in Europe to grow 78,2% in 2026.
“Cloud investments in Europe will be more turbulent in 2026 as CIOs focus on digital sovereignty and move their cloud services closer to home,” says Lovelock. Gartner projects end user public cloud services spending to grow 24% in 2026.
In 2026, software spending will remain a high spending priority for European organisations as they aim for more intelligent, efficient, and personalised applications. In addition, price increases across all software categories are raising software spending.
The devices market will experience a similar boost, with manufacturers adding AI features to devices and raising prices to offset the cost of additional hardware.
Building IT infrastructure remains paramount in 2026
The push to develop AI infrastructure will continue to raise demand and growth expectations for servers – particularly AI-optimised servers. In Europe, end user spending on AI-optimised servers is forecast to reach $46,8-billion in 2026, up from $39,3-billion in 2025 – a distant third place to North America’s $170-billion and China’s $67-billion projected spending.
“Europe is facing regulatory pressure, competition between countries, geopolitical tensions, and national security concerns – all focused on making sure Europe can develop and manage AI systems on its own without depending on foreign platforms or providers,” says Lovelock.
Lovelock adds that while existing software providers add GenAI features to their products to encourage GenAI adoption, AI platforms made for Europe are becoming part of important national infrastructure.
Gartner predicts that by 2027, 35% of countries will be locked into region-specific AI platforms using proprietary contextual data. Gartner says platform lock-in will rise from 5% to 35% by 2027 as governments will urge major cloud providers to work with local companies to make their platforms more regional to meet regulatory requirements and support national interests.