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This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dive Brief:\u00a0<\/p>\n As IT leaders struggle to keep up with growing AI demands, spend on AI-optimized infrastructure as a service will more than double by 2026, reaching $37.5 billion, according to <\/a>Gartner<\/a>. Spending on the category will reach\u00a0$18.3 billion this year, the analyst firm expects.\u00a0 Dive Insight:\u00a0<\/p>\n Demand for specialized infrastructure comes as generative and agentic AI are driving enterprises to look for options that best support modern applications of the technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n The AI push will shape how IT teams are building their cloud infrastructure heading into 2026. IT departments will consider options such as purpose-built infrastructure<\/a> optimized to support enterprise AI demands, which Info-Tech Research Group predicts will be a top technology trend in the new year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Enterprises will require tailor-made platforms because traditional technologies, such as CPU-based IaaS, will struggle to meet enterprise AI demands, according to Singh.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs organizations expand their use of AI and GenAI, they will need specialized infrastructure such as GPUs, tensor processing units or other AI ASICs, high-speed networking and optimized storage for fast parallel processing and data movement,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tech giants are pouring massive resources to keep up with demand for specialized infrastructure.\u00a0<\/p>\n The AI Infrastructure Partnership, created in 2024<\/a>\u00a0and composed of investors BlackRock, Microsoft, MGX, Nvidia and xAI, have agreed to purchase Aligned Data Centers in Dallas for $40 billion in the group\u2019s latest move to accelerate and expand AI infrastructure. Aligned provides data center products for hyperscalers and enterprises in North and South America, according to a release announcing the sale<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are excited about our next chapter in fueling AI expansion,\u201d Aligned CEO Andrew Schaap said in the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nMore than half \u2013 55% \u2013 of AI-optimized IaaS spend will be driven by inferencing rather than training workloads in 2026, according to Gartner. Enterprise investments will focus on high-performance computing resources such as GPUs and application-specific integrated circuits created for large-scale AI processing.\u00a0
\n\u201cTraditional IaaS is maturing, however, AI-optimized IaaS spending growth projections are higher than that of traditional IaaS over the next five years,\u201d Gartner Principal Analyst Hardeep Singh said in a Wednesday press release.\u00a0<\/p>\n