IDC Forecasts European AI Spending to Hit $470B by 2030 as Agentic Systems Drive Rapid Growth

European organizations will spend nearly $470 billion on AI in 2030, according to new IDC projections, with spending growing at a compound annual rate of 35 percent from 2025. At that pace, the market more than quadruples in five years, and generative AI will account for more than half of all spending by the end of the decade.

IDC identifies agentic AI as the primary driver of growth. Companies are moving beyond single-purpose copilots toward networks of autonomous agents working together, and they are doing so under the EU AI Act, whose transparency rules and most high-risk obligations took effect on August 2, 2026. The remaining requirements apply from August 2, 2027, less than a year away. IDC expects the deadlines to weigh most heavily on banking, insurance, and healthcare investment.

"Despite geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions, European AI investment is the priority organizations protect first when cutting elsewhere," said Carla La Croce, research manager for data and analytics at IDC. She noted that the market is shifting from experimentation to operational deployment, with organizations focusing on efficiency, risk mitigation, and resilience.

Software leads spending and grows fastest

Software will represent 54.9 percent of European AI spending in 2026 and is also the fastest-growing segment, expanding at 43.9 percent annually through 2030. Within software, AI platforms grow the fastest at 61.1 percent a year. These platforms support building, running, and managing models and agents, and IDC ties their rise directly to the surge in agentic components. A category growing at 61.1 percent annually becomes roughly 11 times its starting size over five years.

Banks spend most; hospitals grow fastest

Banking is the largest vertical, accounting for 12.6 percent of European AI spending in 2026. Combined with insurance and capital markets, financial services reach 19.2 percent — nearly one dollar in five. Banks are investing in fraud analysis, threat intelligence, contact-center automation, and multi-agent automation of critical operations.

Software and information services companies rank second, with more than half of their AI spending going toward infrastructure provisioning to support agent workloads. Retail ranks third, driven by digital commerce.

Healthcare providers are the fastest-growing vertical, expanding at 41.0 percent annually through 2030. Clinical workflow and resource optimization account for nearly two-thirds of healthcare AI spending in 2026. The UK's NHS is scaling AI ambient scribing to 20,000 clinicians, while Romania's national recovery plan is funding an e-health program connecting more than 25,000 providers.

Regulation and talent shortages slow progress

IDC highlights three major risks: inconsistent rules across EU member states, ongoing shortages of AI talent, and pressure to reduce cloud costs. These same pressures are driving demand for AI governance and assurance services, which help organizations document and validate how their AI systems behave.

Eastern Europe grows faster from a smaller base

Western Europe leads in agentic AI deployments, balance-sheet-funded generative AI rollouts, and emerging sectors such as aerospace and defense. Central and Eastern Europe is growing well above the global average, supported by nearshore talent hubs and EU recovery funding. However, fragmented regulation and talent shortages continue to slow the region’s progress. IDC’s public figures do not break out a separate spending total for Eastern Europe, leaving the exact gap between east and west unclear.