Global IT Spending to Hit $7.35 Trillion by 2027
Memory price surges driven by AI infrastructure demand will continue to inflate consumer hardware costs through 2030.
Updated on Oct. 21, 2026 in Data Centers
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Global IT spending is forecast to reach $7.35 trillion by 2027, driven by a 15% increase in investment as companies industrialize AI deployment. This massive capital reallocation has triggered a surge in memory costs, a phenomenon termed memflation that is currently impacting global hardware supply chains.
Why it matters
The persistent rise in memory prices threatens to elevate consumer device costs for years as providers prioritize AI infrastructure to secure their positions in the AI economy. This trend illustrates the high barrier to entry for building the foundational layers required for large-scale AI operations.
Global IT spending is expected to grow 15% as organizations fund AI infrastructure, resulting in a total projected spend of $7.35 trillion by 2027. Memory prices have more than doubled over the past year due to data center demand, creating a sustained pricing pressure on the broader tech supply chain.
The players
Gartner
A research and consulting firm that provides market intelligence and supply chain analysis for the global technology industry.
The details
The memflation effect occurs as hyperscalers—large-scale cloud providers that manage massive, global data centers—and technology firms aggressively secure memory components for enterprise AI. This demand funnels capital into storage, server, and networking supply chains to support the industrialization of AI. Because these components are shared across industry verticals, the bottleneck in data center availability directly correlates to increased manufacturing costs for consumer PCs, laptops, and mobile devices.
Timeline
2025-2026: The window during which memory prices have doubled due to data center demand.
2027: The year global IT spending is projected to reach $7.35 trillion.
2030: The year memflation is projected to subside.
The Tech Race
This trend marks a fundamental shift in capital allocation toward AI infrastructure as the foundational layer of the global economy. It follows the precedent of memflation, which continues to drive up hardware costs across both enterprise-grade servers and consumer-grade personal devices.
Consumers should expect sustained price increases for PCs, laptops, and mobile phones as high-demand memory components remain diverted to data center expansion. This pricing pressure is likely to persist for all personal electronics buyers through the end of 2030.
The takeaway
The race to secure memory for AI infrastructure is restructuring the cost of entry for all personal computing devices through 2030. Readers should track upcoming hardware quarterly earnings reports for signals that memory supply might stabilize earlier than current projections.
Further reading
For broader trends in infrastructure investment and hardware supply, see our coverage of Data Centers.
Source note: This article includes information reported by CIO Dive.
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