The AI compute gap: Enterprises are buying infrastructure faster than they can measure what it costs

VentureBeat Pulse Research surveyed 107 enterprises and found a widening compute gap: companies are investing quickly in AI infrastructure before they can measure or manage its economics. Only 21% run AI at production scale, yet 45% plan to evaluate AI-specialized clouds, while 83% report GPU utilization at 50% or less and just 44% rigorously track AI compute costs.

The findings suggest enterprise AI spending is shifting from experimentation to infrastructure procurement faster than operational discipline can keep up. As buyers prioritize integration and total cost of ownership over token pricing, vendors that offer clearer cost visibility and workload optimization may gain an edge.