Citigroup raises AI capex and revenue forecasts amid rapid enterprise adoption

March 10 (Reuters) – 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.”

(Reporting by Kanchana Chakravarty in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)