IDC predicts enterprise AI spending will surpass $341B in 2020 SHARE Companies worldwide will spend $341.8 billion on artificial intelligence software, hardware and related services in 2021, International Data Corp. projected in a new report published today. According to the research firm, the forecast indicates that AI spending is on track to increase by 15.2% compared with 2020. Growth is expected to remain robust in the subsequent years. IDC’s analysts see organizations upping their AI budgets by another 18.8% next year and, by 2024, a total of more than $500 billion will be spent annually on machine learning software and related solutions. That’s good news for Nvidia Corp. and other makers of chips for running AI software. Nvidia, whose graphics processing units are the go-to choice for machine learning projects, has already seen its market capitalization increase more than fourfold since 2019 thanks to enterprises’ growing adoption of AI. In the same time frame, several competing AI chip startups have been acquired or raised funding at multibillion dollar valuations.