High-tech capital spending hits record 55% of total US investment in Q2 2026

More than half of every dollar US businesses spent on capital investment last quarter went to high-tech categories. That’s never happened before.

High-tech capital spending reached 55.2% of total nonresidential business investment in Q2 2026, according to data tracked by Yardeni Research and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The AI boom, now well into its third year, has turned what was already a strong trend into something that looks more like a structural transformation of how American companies allocate money.

The numbers behind the surge

Total nonresidential fixed investment clocked in at an annualized rate of $4.62 trillion in Q2 2026, per the BEA. The high-tech slice of that pie was dominated by three categories: information processing equipment at $794.89 billion, software at $816.63 billion, and computers and peripheral equipment at $400.63 billion.

AI-related private business investment alone hit an annualized rate of $1.5 trillion, up 25% year over year. That single category of spending contributed somewhere between 25% and 33% of recent US GDP growth, depending on the analysis.

Real GDP growth came in at 1.5% annualized for the quarter, according to the BEA’s second estimate released on August 26. The tech sector is essentially carrying the broader investment picture while other areas of nonresidential spending cool off.

Hyperscaler capital expenditures on AI infrastructure are projected to land in the range of $490 to $520 billion for 2026.

A decades-long trajectory, suddenly vertical

The share of high-tech in total US business investment has been climbing for generations, but the recent acceleration stands out. In 1960, high-tech categories represented about 15% of total business investment. By 2000, at the peak of the dot-com era, that figure had reached 40%. It took another two decades to hit roughly 48% by 2020.

Then AI happened. In just six years, the share jumped another seven percentage points to cross the 55% threshold.

Analysts at Yardeni Research note that the investment trend is broadening beyond pure AI plays. While large language models and GPU clusters grabbed the initial headlines, spending is now flowing into adjacent technology sectors: edge computing, AI-optimized networking equipment, cybersecurity infrastructure, and industry-specific software platforms.

What this means for the economy and markets

The 25% year-over-year growth in AI investment suggests corporate budgets haven’t hit their ceiling. Major cloud providers continue to announce new data center projects, and enterprise software spending shows no signs of decelerating.

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