AI Spending

Google Cloud surged 82% to $24.8B in Q2 2026. 90% of Fortune 100 uses Gemini Enterprise. What the $514B cloud backlog means for your AI strategy.

Gartner says $2.59T is being spent on AI in 2026. Fewer than 1 in 3 executives can prove the return. Here's what the data reveals—and what to do about it.

IBM's worst single-day crash in 115 years erased $68.8 billion in market cap after enterprises diverted software budgets to AI hardware. CEO Arvind Krishna admitted IBM 'faltered' as clients shifted capex toward servers, storage, and memory ahead of price increases. The contagion hit ServiceNow (-8%), Accenture (-8%), Salesforce (-5%), and Cognizant (-7%), while cybersecurity stocks CrowdStrike (+12%), Zscaler (+8.8%), and Palo Alto (+7%) rallied. With Gartner warning $234 billion of enterprise software spend is at risk from agentic AI, every CIO needs an exposure assessment now. Enterprise AI budget exposure scoring framework and spending rebalancing decision matrix inside.

Microsoft's capex jumped 61% to $190B—$25B from memory alone. Big Tech hits $725B total. Google proves ROI, but investors question Microsoft and Meta.