This week, financial investments continue to
flow into artificial intelligence. Some are in the millions, and others are in the billions -- not only from tech companies, but agencies.
WPP Group on Tuesday said it will spend $400 million
with Google to enhance cloud and generative AI capabilities for brands.
The investment aims to improve creative production and media integration for brands, and to move past traditional
methods to transform real-time advertising and ecommerce experiences.
This funding supports WPP Open, the company's marketing AI platform, raising annual AI and technology investment to
£300 million ($398.9 million) from £250 million in 2024.
The holding company said in a release that the deal was completed in Mountain View, California during a meeting between WPP
CEO Cindy Rose, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, and members of their respective senior leadership teams.
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AI Spending in IT Markets, Worldwide, 2024-2026 (Millions of U.S. Dollars)
Market | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
AI Services | 259,477 | 282,556 | 324,669 |
AI Application Software | 83,679 | 172,029 | 269,703 |
AI Infrastructure Software | 56,904 | 126,177 | 229,825 |
GenAI
Models | 5,719 | 14,200 | 25,766 |
AI-optimized Servers (GPU and Non-GPU AI Accelerators) | 140,107 | 267,534 | 329,528 |
AI-optimized IaaS | 7,447 | 18,325 | 37,507 |
AI Processing Semiconductors | 138,813 | 209,192 | 267,934 |
AI PCs by ARM and x86 | 51,023 | 90,432 | 144,413 |
GenAI Smartphones | 244,735 | 298,189 | 393,297 |
Total AI Spending | 987,904
| 1,478,634 | 2,022,642 |
Source: Gartner (September 2025)
Generative artificial intelligence -- a version of AI used in creative -- has
the potential to explode, according to Deloitte’s Connected Consumer study, which surveyed about 3,500 U.S. consumers in June 2025 about their digital lives.
The study found that 53% of
consumers surveyed now use or experiment with GAI. In the workplace, use has jumped from 6% to 34% in just two years.
Gartner forecasts that AI spending by companies to support this growth
will reach $1.5 trillion in 2025 and is expected to exceed $2 trillion in 2026 -- led largely by AI being integrated into products such as smartphones and PCs, as well as infrastructure.
UBS
estimates companies will spend $375 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025, rising to $500 billion by 2026.
IDC projects global investment in technology to support AI strategies will reach $337
billion in 2025, more than doubling to $749 billion by 2028.
Billions of dollars in investments for AI hubs announced this week are coming from Google and Salesforce.
Google said it
will invest $15 billion in India for an AI and data hub in Visakhapatnam, while Marc Benioff, Salesforce cofounder, chairman and CEO, said Monday his company will invest $15 billion in San Francisco
during the next five years to cement the city’s status as a global hub for AI.
Benioff’s investment funds a new AI Incubator Hub, expands workforce-development programs and helps
companies transform into agentic enterprises, helping to move software to the AI era.
The funds coincide with Salesforce Dreamforce conference where brands and companies will look for insights
into monetizing AI technologies.
But Salesforce has experienced a difficult year in terms of its stock price. Year-to-date, Salesforce stock has fallen nearly 26% from its highs of $330.66 per
share, dropping to $245.12 per share as of noon EST on Tuesday.
In late September, CoreWeave signed a $14 billion agreement with Meta Platforms to supply computing
power to the Facebook parent.