Citi’s CIO survey shows Microsoft remains the top AI vendor

Investing.com -- Citi's second-quarter 2026 survey of 100 IT decision makers found Microsoft remained the top vendor CIOs are considering increasing spend with for artificial intelligence, followed by Amazon and Google.

The survey reportedly showed an improved spending backdrop compared with the prior quarter, with both U.S. and EMEA next-twelve-month IT budgets accelerating as AI continued to rise in investment prioritization.

Overall, the bank said forward IT budget growth expectations rose to 3.3% from 2.6% in the March 2026 survey, which Citi said was 0.8 percentage points above the seven-year historical average.

EMEA IT budget growth accelerated 0.8 percentage points to 3.9%, while U.S. budget growth rose 0.6 percentage points to 3.0%, according to Citi.

Data analytics and AI remained the top investment priority for respondents and gained further share, followed by cybersecurity, digital transformation and customer-facing applications, Citi said.

The bank noted that web security "leapt into top-priority cohort," which it attributed to a surge in malicious and legitimate agentic and bot internet traffic alongside expanded API surfaces.

On AI spending cuts, Citi said the most-cited vendors included Cisco, Dell, IBM and ServiceNow.

Citi estimated AI currently represents about 6.5% of IT budgets, with 69% of funding coming from new or additional funding, down from 73% previously.

The survey also found 50% of CIOs expect AI to drive headcount reduction over the next six to 12 months, up from 47% in the prior survey.

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