Goldman survey points to growing enterprise commitment to AI investments

Investing.com -- Enterprise commitment to artificial intelligence is deepening even as broader IT spending momentum moderates, according to Goldman Sachs's latest survey of CIOs.

Analyst Gabriela Borges reported that Goldman's Overall IT Spending Index slipped to 65.0 from 68.0, while its IT Capital Spending Index fell to 59.0 from 65.5, both continuing a consecutive decline since November 2024.

Borges attributed part of the softness to AI-driven uncertainty, suggesting there "may be some crowding out of category spend not tied to AI" as enterprises hold off on larger commitments until the impact of AI on core budget categories becomes clearer.

Against that backdrop, AI-specific intentions are said to be accelerating. Over a three-year horizon, 42% of CIOs, up from 35% previously, expect generative AI to exceed 10% of their IT budgets, with a weighted average of 10%.

Goldman noted that two-thirds of AI inference costs are being funded through budget reallocation, including 18% shifting spend away from application software, suggesting AI is already compressing near-term software and labor budgets.

Hardware demand is strengthening sharply. Goldman found that 60% of respondents now expect to increase server spending, up from 37% previously, while 75% anticipate higher storage spending, up from 47% previously.

Borges tied these trends to DRAM and NAND supply tightness, driving higher average selling prices.

On software, enterprise preferences remain skewed toward buying rather than building, with 56% of respondents expecting to "build less and buy more," leading Goldman to suggest that "investor concerns may be overblown" around enterprises developing in-house AI capabilities.

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