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Unlocking AI’s Future: The $2 Trillion Revenue Challenge Revealed in Bain’s Global Technology Report

$2 Trillion in New Revenue Needed to Fuel AI’s Rapid Growth, Says Bain & Company’s 6th Annual Global Technology Report

September 23, 2025 — San Francisco

As artificial intelligence continues to evolve at a breakneck pace, the global economy faces a massive challenge in funding the computing power necessary to meet AI demand over the next decade. According to Bain & Company’s sixth annual Global Technology Report, the world will require an additional $2 trillion in annual revenue by 2030 to support the infrastructure and scaling of AI technologies—an investment critical to sustaining the unprecedented growth in AI computing needs.

The Growing Revenue Gap in Funding AI Compute

Bain’s research projects that by 2030, global incremental AI compute requirements could reach 200 gigawatts, with the United States accounting for roughly half of this consumption. Despite cost-saving efficiencies from AI applications in areas such as sales, marketing, customer support, and R&D, the industry still confronts a shortfall of approximately $800 billion in annual revenue to fund the data centers and cloud infrastructure essential to AI’s continued expansion.

David Crawford, chairman of Bain’s Global Technology Practice, highlighted the urgency of this funding gap: “Technology executives will be challenged to deploy around $500 billion in capital expenditures and find $2 trillion in new revenue to profitably meet demand. At the same time, we anticipate substantial pressure on global supply chains and power grids, which have not expanded capacity in decades, to keep pace with AI’s rapidly increasing compute requirements.”

AI’s compute demand is growing at more than twice the rate of Moore’s Law, intensifying concerns about the ability of semiconductor manufacturing and power infrastructure to scale sufficiently and sustainably. Moreover, geopolitical factors, including an AI arms race among nations and technology providers, further complicate investment and capacity planning decisions for companies worldwide.

Acceleration in Agentic AI Adoption and Enterprise Gains

The report notes a marked transition from AI experimentation to scaled deployment across leading enterprises. While many organizations are still refining use cases and experimenting with AI, those at the forefront are realizing EBITDA improvements ranging from 10 to 25 percent thanks to more effective AI integration into core business workflows.

Bain predicts that over the next three to five years, 5 to 10 percent of technology budgets may be dedicated to foundational AI capabilities, including agent platforms and real-time data communication protocols. Potentially, as much as half of overall technology spend by enterprises could be focused on AI agents orchestrating workflows across business units.

Four levels of AI maturity will distinguish industry leaders from followers:

Large language model (LLM)-powered information retrieval agents
Single-task agentic workflows
Cross-system agentic workflow orchestration
Multi-agent constellations

The next several years will see capital investment, innovation, and velocity of AI deployment converging particularly around levels 2 and 3, where companies can compound advantages through intelligent task automation and seamless system integration.

SaaS and Sovereign AI: Navigating Disruption and Fragmentation

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers face disruption from generative and agentic AI; however, this disruption presents opportunities to expand total addressable markets. Bain stresses that success for SaaS players depends on leveraging AI to automate user tasks and deeply embed AI into existing workflows. Strategic moves such as selective open-sourcing and outcome-based pricing models will be necessary to maintain competitive advantage.

Meanwhile, geopolitical forces are accelerating fragmentation of technology supply chains, as countries emphasize “sovereign AI” to bolster national security and economic independence. The United States and China remain at the forefront of this decoupling, with China accounting for approximately 20 percent of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity in 2025. Anne Hoecker, head of Bain’s Global Technology Practice, remarked, “Sovereign AI capabilities have become a strategic priority comparable to military and economic strength, but full-stack independence is largely unfeasible today. Companies must build architectural flexibility and localize technology strategies to navigate this complex landscape.”

Emerging Technologies: Quantum Computing and Humanoid Robotics

Beyond AI, the report highlights two technological frontiers attracting significant attention:

Quantum computing could unlock up to $250 billion in new market value, benefiting sectors such as pharmaceuticals, finance, logistics, and materials science. While promising, large-scale deployment of fully fault-tolerant quantum hardware remains a longer-term prospect.
Humanoid robots are gaining traction with increasing investment and ecosystem development. Although many deployments remain nascent and rely heavily on human supervision, early adopters are poised to lead commercialization in the coming era.

The Private Equity Landscape in Tech Slows But Investor Sentiment Remains Positive

Despite uncertainties stemming from geopolitical tensions and tariff effects, technology deal-making in North America remains robust though slower in the second half of 2025. Bain’s analysis suggests that with software penetration reaching maturity in industries like retail and manufacturing, private equity investors face new challenges in identifying growth hotspots. Nonetheless, technology continues to outperform many other sectors in deal activity and investor optimism.

About Bain & Company
Bain & Company is a global management consulting firm committed to helping the world’s most ambitious organizations innovate and achieve extraordinary results. Operating in 65 cities across 40 countries, Bain combines deep industry expertise with digital innovation ecosystems to deliver transformative outcomes for its clients.

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