Corporate America faces AI hangover as spending surges to $2.5T

Global enterprise AI spending is forecast to hit roughly $2.5 trillion in 2026, a 44 to 47% jump over 2025 levels, according to Gartner projections. To put that in perspective, the entire GDP of France sits around $3 trillion. The single largest driver, according to research circulated by Fortune, is not a calculated return-on-investment thesis. It is fear. Specifically, the fear that a competitor is moving faster. Everyone is buying. Not everyone is winning. Organizations are not shuffling money from old budgets. Many are creating entirely new budget lines just for generative AI tools: Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and their enterprise variants. According to PwC’s 2026 CEO Survey, only about 25% of AI initiatives are delivering expected returns. A separate survey found that 56% of business leaders reported zero revenue gains or cost savings from their AI implementations in the prior year. Big Tech is cashing the checks regardless Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft collectively carry roughly $2.4 trillion in AI-related commitments, and their projected capital expenditure for AI infrastructure in 2026 alone sits between $700 billion and $800 billion. AI in...