Global research and advisory firm Gartner has forecast that IT spending in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region will reach US$169 billion in 2026, marking an 8.9 percent increase over 2025.

Mim Burt, Practice Vice President at Gartner, said the MENA region is rapidly emerging as a global technology hub, as GCC countries leverage their advanced infrastructure and forward-looking policies to attract global partners and build digital capabilities that fuel innovation and support resilient, AI-enabled economies.

Despite global economic and geopolitical uncertainty, CIOs in the region are making strategic investments in artificial intelligence, intelligent automation, multi-cloud strategies, enhanced cybersecurity, and workforce upskilling.

Gartner predicts that spending on data centre systems in the MENA region will increase by 37.3 percent in 2026, making it the fastest-growing IT segment. However, growth will be slower this year as the market transitions from rapid expansion to gradual and sustainable investment.

Eyad Tachwali, Vice President of Advisory at Gartner, said spending on data centre systems is expected to rise in parallel with increased investments by CISOs in the region in AI-powered software and updated AI infrastructure. This growth is primarily driven by the rising demand for generative AI and advanced machine learning, both of which rely heavily on robust computing capabilities for large-scale data processing.

He added that the bulk of this demand will come from governments, major cloud service providers, technology vendors, and institutions focused on developing and deploying AI models, rather than from traditional enterprises or consumers.

According to Gartner, software spending in MENA is projected to rise by 13.9 percent to US$20.4 billion in 2026, driven by the accelerating adoption of generative AI capabilities across organisations.

Gartner expects that by 2028, 75 percent of global software spending will be directed toward solutions featuring generative AI capabilities.