Citigroup raises AI capex and revenue forecasts amid rapid enterprise adoption

Citigroup on Tuesday raised its global artificial intelligence capital expenditure and revenue forecasts for 2026-2030, citing faster enterprise demand and adoption.

Citigroup said AI tools are set to advance rapidly,unlocking new ‌enterprise ⁠applications and ⁠accelerating theadoption of agentic systems and workflows. ​It raised its 2026-2030 global AI capex estimates to $8.9trillion ​compared to its earlier forecast of $8 trillion.

Hyperscalers - Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and MetaPlatforms - are expected to collectively spend more ⁠than $630billion in ‌capital spending this year. Citi also forecast global AI revenue for 2026-2030 ⁠to jumpto $3.3 trillion from its prior forecast of $2.8 trillion. AI startup Anthropic has projected as much as $26 billionin annualized revenue in 2026, while ChatGPT maker OpenAIreported surpassing a $25  billion run rate, compared with$21.4  billion it generated at the ‌end of last year.


The bank sees underperformance among the hyperscalers asan ​opportunity to ​invest, following ⁠the AI-driven selloff intechnology stocks last month. "We believe the market remains focused on challenges ofbringing ​global data center capacity online, rising financingneeds and intense competition, while overlooking elevatedreturns from these investments and early signs of anenterprise-driven productivity cycle."