62% of AI Budgets Consumed by Data Infrastructure as ROI Remains Elusive
The latest Wasabi Cloud Storage Index reveals that 62% of enterprise AI budgets are being spent on underlying data infrastructure rather than the AI applications themselves. Based on a survey of 200 UK respondents, only 25% of organisations report positive return on investment from their AI initiatives.
The research finds that 46% of organisations believe they are overspending on cloud storage, suggesting that poorly optimised data strategies are consuming resources that could otherwise be directed towards AI innovation and deployment.
Organisations are pouring money into AI but the foundation — the data layer — is eating the budget before the AI can deliver value. Until businesses get their storage economics right, positive ROI from AI will remain the exception rather than the rule.
The findings add weight to a recurring theme in the AI investment landscape: the hidden infrastructure costs that sit beneath headline AI spending figures. For many organisations, the path to AI ROI may run through storage optimisation before it reaches model performance.
