AI CapEx Hits $765B in 2026, Topping Oil and Gas

Goldman Sachs projects $765 billion in annual AI capital expenditure in 2026, growing to $1.6 trillion by 2031. A separate analysis reports the same $765 billion figure and states it surpasses oil and gas industry capex for the first time. Goldman argues the investment level is highly sensitive to structural assumptions about how infrastructure is built and renewed, not solely to demand-side factors. PwC projects global data center spending will reach $31.6 trillion through 2050, rising to nearly $50 trillion if AI adoption accelerates. A PwC report finds every $1 spent on data center construction commits approximately $12 more in future ICT equipment costs, with hardware projected at 93% of total data center capex by 2050. US data center construction spending surged nearly 60% year-on-year in July per Census Bureau data. Goldman Sachs Asset Management argues agentic AI is the primary catalyst for continued capex and is expected to drive over 90% of future digital infrastructure demand.