The enterprise technology landscape is on the brink of a massive transformation. According to new research from market intelligence firm IDC, agentic AI is expected to capture over a quarter (26%) of worldwide IT spending within the next five years, with year-over-year growth predicted at 32% between 2025 and 2029. If these projections hold true, investment in agentic AI-enabled applications and fleet management systems will reach an astounding $1.3 trillion by 2030.
This unprecedented surge signals more than just a technology trend—it represents a fundamental shift in how enterprises allocate their IT resources. The research indicates that spending on AI-enabled applications is expected to increase faster than any other segment, creating major competitive shifts across the software industry. Service providers are positioned to be most profoundly affected, with IDC predicting they will account for 80% of infrastructure spend to support the massive increases in agentic workloads. This could translate to a 10x increase in the number and complexity of both third-party and custom-built AI agents used by enterprises over the next five years.
The implications for IT leaders are clear: those who fail to integrate AI agents into their product development roadmap risk significant market share losses. As Rick Villars, group vice president for Worldwide Research at IDC, notes, there's a clear alignment between AI spending growth and IT leaders' confidence that effective AI use will drive future business success. However, this shift comes with challenges, particularly the massive increase in compute capacity required to support AI agent growth, which will initially demand significant infrastructure investment from cloud providers.
For enterprises navigating this transformation, the message is unmistakable—informed leadership and strategic planning around agentic AI implementation will be critical to success. Companies that proactively invest in platform solutions enabling secure and efficient agent management will be best positioned to capitalise on this technological revolution, while those that delay risk being left behind in an increasingly AI-driven marketplace.