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Stock Markets April 20, 2026 08:15 AM

Barclays CIO Survey Sees Flat IT Budget Growth, Strong AI and Cloud Tailwinds for Major Vendors

Survey of 100 CIOs shows 3.8% IT budget growth, rising AI allocation and sectoral spending shifts favoring hyperscalers and hardware vendors

By Marcus Reed MSFT AMZN GOOGL ANET
Barclays CIO Survey Sees Flat IT Budget Growth, Strong AI and Cloud Tailwinds for Major Vendors
MSFT AMZN GOOGL ANET

Barclays' survey of 100 chief information officers finds corporate IT budgets projected to grow 3.8% for the year, unchanged from the second half of 2025. The bank highlights rising AI-related spending, a lift in private cloud expectations, and a bifurcated corporate spending outlook by company size and region that benefits major cloud providers and select hardware names.

Key Points

  • CIO survey of 100 respondents shows projected IT budget growth of 3.8% for the year, unchanged from H2 2025.
  • AI allocations rose to 4.8% of IT budgets from 3.8% in H1 2025; private cloud spending expectations increased by 7 percentage points.
  • Survey results favor hyperscalers and select hardware vendors; large enterprises (+$1B IT budgets) expect 22% higher spend while $100M-$500M budget firms expect an 8% decline.

Overview

Barclays reported on Monday results from a survey of 100 chief information officers that point to stable corporate technology spending expectations. Respondents collectively expect IT budgets to increase 3.8% this year, a figure unchanged from expectations collected in the second half of 2025.

Confidence despite headwinds

Barclays analyst Tim Long described the steadiness in spending forecasts as encouraging in light of persistent pressures. He noted that the outlook holds up despite what he termed "memory market dynamics, continued tariff exposure and overall macro uncertainty." The comment frames the survey results as resilient amid industry-specific and macroeconomic challenges.

Company-size and regional splits

The survey reveals a marked divergence by customer size. Large enterprises that maintain IT budgets above $1 billion anticipate a 22% increase in spending, while firms with IT budgets between $100 million and $500 million expect an 8% decline. Regionally, North America is expected to lead growth, whereas EMEA is seen as continuing to lag.

AI and software allocations

AI-related expenditures are taking a larger share of IT budgets, rising to 4.8% in the latest survey from 3.8% in the first half of 2025. Barclays states that it believes AI is contributing to the higher overall IT spend. On software, expectations for private cloud spending rose by 7 percentage points compared with the prior survey. Within software priorities, ERP tools emerged as the top-ranked application area while CRM and communications and collaboration tools registered falls in priority.

Winners among vendors

Microsoft retained its position as the top-ranked cloud provider and is cited for strong AI-driven spending expectations. Barclays characterized the survey results as "most favorable for the hyperscalers Microsoft, Amazon, and Google." In hardware, storage and communications verticals remained the strongest, which Barclays said "aligns with our positive stance on Arista, HP Enterprise, Dell and NetApp."

Industry pockets of acceleration

Certain end markets are expected to accelerate their technology investments more than others. Industries listed by respondents as anticipating the most spending acceleration this year include airlines, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, education and oil and gas.

Note: This report summarizes the survey findings and Barclays' interpretations as presented by the bank.

Risks

  • Memory market dynamics could exert pressure on technology spending and vendor demand - impacting hardware and memory-dependent suppliers.
  • Continued tariff exposure presents an uncertainty that may affect vendor cost structures and customer procurement decisions - relevant to hardware vendors and global suppliers.
  • Overall macro uncertainty could dampen corporate IT investment, particularly among mid-sized firms and in regions such as EMEA that are seen as weaker.

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