Australian and New Zealand Businesses Overspent A$3.9 Billion on Unplanned Tech Costs, New Research Finds

Wasabi Technologies

New economic research suggests recovered infrastructure overspend in Australia and New Zealand could fund A$1.3bn in new productive investment and support 4,408 additional jobs

• ANZ records the second-highest incidence of infrastructure overspend globally, with 78% of businesses spending more than expected, behind only France (79%)
• ANZ businesses report the most frequent difficulty moving data between platforms or providers (16% vs. 26% global average)

Businesses across Australia and New Zealand overspent A$3.9bn on technology infrastructure last year, forcing companies to scale back investment in artificial intelligence, hiring and new product development, according to new economic research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), commissioned by Wasabi Technologies. The overspend reflects infrastructure provider charges businesses could not forecast, rather than their own planned usage, and forms part of a wider CEBR study spanning eight major economies: the UK, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

AI and machine learning infrastructure was the single largest driver of overspend globally and the hardest to forecast, accounting for $23.4bn, or 37%, of the total global overspend, more than any other technology category. It is also the category businesses find hardest to forecast. AI infrastructure costs are unpredictable for 22% of businesses, nearly double any other layer in the technology stack, where the range is between 8% and 12%. The findings expose a growing financial challenge for companies investing in AI. The infrastructure needed to support new technology is consuming budgets intended to advance it.

“Our research uncovered the hidden cost of innovation for some of the world's largest economies and found the economic cost of unpredictable pricing is not simply that firms pay more,” said Owen Good, head of economics advisory at CEBR. “This means hiring and investment in new technologies are postponed or reduced as budgets are redirected to cover unexpected charges. The technology generating the most unplanned costs is also among the investments businesses are cutting to pay for them.”

When Infrastructure Costs Rise, Local Innovation Pays the Price

The findings point to a widening gap between ANZ businesses' ambitions for AI and the financial realities of deploying it. Some 78% of Australian and New Zealand businesses reported spending more on infrastructure than expected, the second-highest rate of any market in the study. Among those affected, 30% have already made technical or architectural decisions based on cost constraints rather than what would be optimal for the business, and 71% would put recovered spend into R&D, AI or new technology.

"Vendor lock-in slows down innovation" said Michael Reid, CEO of Megaport. "We added Wasabi to our partnership ecosystem earlier this year so enterprises can significantly reduce costs when deploying the object storage that every organization relies upon. Improved efficiency and cost predictability through a single, global platform allows companies to cost-effectively support workloads like data lakes, analytics, cyber resilience, and backup, delivered at the click of a button around the world."

Reid added that Megaport’s services have two business models: on-demand consumption delivered in 60 seconds, and large, complex compute, network, and storage clusters secured through fully-funded take-or-pay contracts. "All current contracts have contracted data center capacity and are fully funded," Reid said.

This mirrors a pattern seen across the full study: 84% of organisations globally made at least one cost-driven trade-off on innovation over the past year, with technology and software investment (29%), training and workforce development (28%), and hiring in technology, data and AI roles (27%) the budgets most frequently sacrificed.

The research points to a broader economic cost as companies redirect capital away from projects that could support future growth. CEBR's modelling shows what's at stake if ANZ businesses could recover some of this overspend. Across Australia and New Zealand, the research suggests recovery would support:

• A$1.3bn of new productive investment in R&D, AI and new technology
• 4,408 additional jobs
• A long-run GDP uplift of A$1.1bn

“Australian and New Zealand businesses are being taxed twice for innovation, once to build it, and again just to access or move their own data," said Craig Stockdale, ANZ Country Manager, Wasabi Technologies. "Nearly half of businesses here tell us moving data between platforms or providers is a constant headache, and it’s fundamentally a pricing and architecture problem. Recovering that A$3.9 billion isn't just about cost savings, it could be billions in AI and R&D investment and thousands of jobs this region is currently leaving on the table."

Rising Data Movement Costs and Capacity Constraints Are the Biggest Escape Route Blockers for ANZ

Australian and New Zealand businesses face a distinctly local obstacle when trying to control infrastructure spend as switching providers or expanding.

• 22% say technology and software investment is most likely to lose out when infrastructure costs overrun
• 22%avoided adopting a new technology or platform
• 16%say their current infrastructure makes it difficult to switch provider or adopt better technology due to risk of disruption during migration (47%), the cost of moving data (41%) and technical complexity of migration (29%)

Globally, these types of constraints led businesses to run fewer AI, machine learning or data science experiments (25%), avoid adopting a new technology or platform (22%), and delay or cancel a product or feature launch (16%). These are trade-offs that appear even more acute given how frequently ANZ businesses report hitting these walls.

“Businesses are not short of ambition, but they are blindsided by unpredictable infrastructure costs that prevent them from driving their innovation agendas forward,” said David Friend, founder and CEO, Wasabi Technologies. “There is a fundamental problem with how technology infrastructure is bought and priced — businesses need to know what it will cost to store, access and move their data before they commit to an AI project, not after the bill arrives. Innovation should take risks, but the infrastructure bill shouldn't.”

Click here to read the full Cost of Innovation Report

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Note to Editors:

Methodology

The research was conducted by Sapio Research in July and August 2026 among 690 senior business and IT decision-makers at small, medium and large organisations across the UK, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The margin of error is ±3.7 percentage points at total sample level. Economic modelling, including national overspend estimates and the long-run GDP, investment and employment scenarios, was carried out by Cebr.

About Wasabi Technologies

AI is only as powerful as the data behind it. Wasabi delivers simple, predictable cloud storage that helps organisations build the data infrastructure powering AI, analytics, cyber resilience, media, and cloud-native applications. By giving organisations the freedom to move, access, and activate their data without the hyperscaler tax, Wasabi helps turn data into a competitive advantage. Operating 16 storage regions and supporting organisations doing business in more than 100 countries, Wasabi delivers the global scale, performance, and reliability needed to power the next generation of AI and data-driven innovation. Learn more at wasabi.com.

About Cebr

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) is a leading independent economics consultancy based in London. Established in 1992, Cebr has over 30 years of experience providing economic forecasting, research and analysis to businesses, government departments, financial institutions and public organisations worldwide. Its expertise spans macroeconomic forecasting, economic impact assessments, policy analysis and strategic advisory services. Combining rigorous economic modelling with practical insights, Cebr helps organisations make informed decisions, understand economic trends and contribute to public policy debates.

For more information, visit www.cebr.com.

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