AI-Fueled Spending on Infrastructure Services Soars, Driving Americas Tech Market to New High in Q3: ISG Index™

Cloud-based services accounted for 76 percent of Americas combined contract value through nine months, their highest share ever.

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Combined market up 61 percent, fastest growth ever

Demand for cloud infrastructure services soars 129 percent; managed services down

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- A meteoric rise in infrastructure services spending fueled by AI drove the overall technology services market in the Americas to a new all-time high in the third quarter, according to the latest state-of-the-industry report from Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm.

The Americas ISG Index™, which measures commercial outsourcing contracts with annual contract value (ACV) of $5 million or more, shows third-quarter ACV for the combined market—including both traditional managed services and cloud-based infrastructure and software services—reached a record $27.5 billion, up 61 percent, the region’s highest growth rate ever and the eighth quarter in a row of double-digit growth, averaging 31 percent in that span.

Demand for the cloud infrastructure services needed to run AI more than doubled over last year—up an unprecedented 129 percent—to a new high of $18.1 billion. Cloud-based software services, also driven by AI demand, rose 21 percent, to a record $3.4 billion, its fastest growth in more than four years. Together, infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) generated $21.6 billion of ACV in the quarter, up 100 percent from the prior year, the fastest growth ever for the as-a-service (XaaS) segment. XaaS has now produced ten quarters in a row of double-digit growth, over which time growth has averaged 43 percent.

The managed services market, meanwhile, was down 6 percent, to $6.0 billion, against a record-high third quarter last year. It was the third quarter in the last four that this market has been down, a period of decline last seen in 2019. On a sequential basis, however, managed services was up 15 percent versus the second quarter.

“The infrastructure market is just exploding,” said Todd Lavieri, ISG vice chairman and president of ISG Americas and Asia Pacific. “We’ve never seen anything like it.”

Hyperscalers, Lavieri said, can barely keep up with the demand, as they continue to build data centers to deliver the compute capacity needed to run AI models. “And it’s not just infrastructure. Software services demand is also booming, as platforms become one of the primary distribution layers for AI,” Lavieri said.

Managed services, meanwhile, is being impacted by the shift toward infrastructure spending, Lavieri said. “Enterprises still need managed services as a cost lever to fund AI and improve the bottom line, but right now, the big bets are being placed on cloud infrastructure, as both the frontier AI providers and enterprises build out their AI capabilities.”

Within managed services, IT outsourcing (ITO) was down 7 percent, to $4.8 billion, with its largest service area—application development and maintenance (ADM)—down 2 percent and the next largest area of spend, bundled ADM and infrastructure services, down 27 percent. Business process outsourcing (BPO), likewise was down, by 6 percent, to $931 million, with industry-specific and customer experience services both showing declines, offset somewhat by growth in finance and accounting, facilities management and bundled multi-process services. Engineering, research and development (ER&D) was the only managed services segment that grew in the third quarter. It was up 18 percent, to $287 million.

During the quarter, a total of 426 managed services contracts were awarded, down 11 percent from the prior year, marking the fourth straight quarter volume has declined. Among the contracts were two mega-deals (contracts with annual value of $100 million or more), compared with four in the prior year, with mega-deal ACV down 64 percent. New scope ACV was down 34 percent versus the prior year, to its lowest level in nearly three years, while the value of restructured deals rose 58 percent to its highest level ever.

By industry, ACV for consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail both rose sharply, up 134 percent and 56 percent, respectively. It was the highest quarterly ACV ever for CPG, and the second highest for retail. Other double-digit gainers were healthcare and pharmaceuticals, up 32 percent, and media and telecoms, up 46 percent. Banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), the region’s largest industry for outsourcing, however, was down 34 percent, to its slowest quarter in two years, while manufacturing was down 23 percent.

Nine-Month Results

The Americas’ combined market climbed 45 percent year to date, to a record $69.3 billion. XaaS soared 75 percent, to a record $52.4 billion, while managed services was down 5.5 percent, to $16.9 billion. XaaS represented 76 percent of the combined market through nine months, its highest share ever.

Within XaaS, IaaS jumped 99 percent, to $42.8 billion, while SaaS advanced 13 percent, to $9.6 billion. On the managed services side, ITO was down 9 percent, to $12.9 billion; BPO was up 17 percent, to $3.2 billion, and engineering services slid 17 percent, to $803 million.

A total of 1,199 managed services contracts were awarded year to date, down 6 percent, including eight mega-deals, compared with 12 in the prior year, as mega-deal ACV dropped 35 percent.

2026 Global Forecast

For the full year, ISG is maintaining its forecast of 2.1 percent growth for managed services. At the same time, ISG is raising its previous growth forecast for cloud-based XaaS to 60 percent, up from 30 percent last quarter. Within this segment, IaaS is expected to grow 80 percent and SaaS is expected to grow 12.5 percent—the first time ISG has broken out IaaS and SaaS in its public forecasts.

About the ISG Index™

The ISG Index™ is recognized as the authoritative source for marketplace intelligence on the global technology and business services industry. For 96 consecutive quarters, it has detailed the latest industry data and trends for financial analysts, enterprise buyers, software and service providers, law firms, universities and the media.

The 3Q26 Global ISG Index results were presented during a webcast on October 8. To view a replay of the webcast and download the presentation slides, visit this webpage.

About ISG

ISG (Nasdaq: III) is a global AI-centered technology research and advisory firm. A trusted partner to more than 900 clients, including 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is a long-time leader in technology and business services that is now at the forefront of leveraging AI to help organizations achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm, founded in 2006, is known for its proprietary market data and research, in-depth knowledge and governance of provider ecosystems, and the expertise of its 1,500 professionals worldwide working together to help clients maximize the value of their technology investments.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261013696271/en/

Press Contacts:
Will Thoretz, ISG
+1 203 517 3119
will.thoretz@isg-one.com

Erik Arvidson, Matter Communications for ISG
+1 978 518 4542
isg@matternow.com

Source: Information Services Group, Inc.

Key Terms

iaas technical

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a cloud computing model that lets companies rent computing resources—like servers, storage, and network capacity—on demand instead of owning hardware. For investors, IaaS matters because it enables faster scaling, lower upfront costs, and predictable operating expenses for businesses, which can boost growth potential and margins; think of it as paying to use a utility grid rather than building your own power plant.

saas technical

SaaS, or Software as a Service, is a way of delivering computer programs over the internet, allowing users to access and use them through a web browser without needing to install or maintain the software themselves. For investors, it highlights a business model where companies generate recurring revenue by providing ongoing access to their software, often leading to predictable income and growth potential.

xaas technical

XaaS, short for “Anything as a Service,” is an umbrella term for delivering products or business functions over the internet on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis instead of selling them as one-time purchases. Think of it like renting a streaming service instead of buying DVDs: customers get flexible access and providers earn recurring revenue. For investors, XaaS models often mean more predictable cash flow, faster customer scaling, and different profit dynamics compared with traditional one-time sales.

bpo technical

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is when a company hires an outside firm to handle routine operations—like customer service, payroll, or IT—so the company can focus on its core work. For investors, BPO matters because it can lower costs, speed growth, and change profit margins, but it also introduces risks around service quality, data security, and loss of control, similar to hiring a contractor to run a critical part of your business.