IT spending in Thailand is expected to reach almost 1.1 trillion baht in 2026, up 8.36% year-on-year, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investment, according to the latest forecast by business tech and insight firm Gartner.
Investments in AI-related infrastructure will continue to surge in 2026, according to a company release issued last month.
Gartner forecasts that spending on data centre systems in Thailand by enterprises and service providers will record the largest growth, increasing 27.9% to 70.6 billion baht.
Within this category, server spending will increase almost 38% to reach 51.1 billion baht in 2026, driven by investments in AI-optimised servers to support AI adoption.
Communications services remain the largest IT spending category in Thailand in 2026, mainly focused on spending on mobile connectivity, Gartner noted.
The firm forecasts that communications services spending in Thailand will reach 457 billion baht in 2026, a 2.63% increase from 2025.
"AI infrastructure growth remains rapid despite concerns about an AI bubble, with spending rising across AI-related hardware and software," said John-David Lovelock, distinguished vice-president analyst at Gartner.
"Demand from hyperscale cloud providers continues to drive investment in servers optimised for AI workloads."
Global IT spending is expected to reach US$6.15 trillion this year, up 10.8% from 2025.
Global server spending is projected to accelerate in 2026, growing 36.9% year-on-year.
Total data centre spending is expected to increase by 31.7%, surpassing $650 billion in 2026, up from nearly $500 billion the previous year.
Software spending growth for 2026 was downgraded to 14.7% from 15.2% for both application and infrastructure software.
"Despite the modest revision, total software spending will remain above $1.4 trillion," said Mr Lovelock.
Projections for generative AI (GenAI) model spending in 2026 remain unchanged, with growth of 80.8% expected.
GenAI models continue to experience strong growth, and their share of the software market is expected to rise by 1.8% in 2026, he said.
Shipments of mobile phones, PCs, and tablets continue to grow steadily. Total spending on devices is projected to reach $836 billion in 2026, though market demand constraints will slow growth to 6.1%.
"This slowdown is largely due to rising memory prices, which are increasing average selling prices and discouraging device replacements," Mr Lovelock said.
"In addition, higher memory costs are causing shortages in the lower end of the market, where profit margins are thinner. These factors are contributing to more muted growth in device shipments."
