AI Statistics in Italy 2026: The Latest Data, with Sources

In 2025 the Italian artificial intelligence market is worth 1.8 billion euros, up 50% on the year before, according to the Artificial Intelligence Observatory at Politecnico di Milano, Italy's leading technical university. ISTAT, Italy's national statistics institute, records that 16.4% of companies with at least 10 employees use at least one AI technology, double the 2024 figure. Here is the updated data, with the source next to every number.

• The Italian AI market is worth 1.8 billion euros in 2025, +50% on 2024 (Artificial Intelligence Observatory, Politecnico di Milano, February 2026).
• 16.4% of companies with at least 10 employees use AI in 2025, up from 8.2% in 2024: adoption doubled in a year (ISTAT, December 2025).
• At companies with more than 250 employees, adoption exceeds 53% (ISTAT).
• The Digital Omnibus package, formally adopted by the EU Council on 29 June 2026, has postponed the AI Act obligations for standalone high-risk systems (Annex III) to 2 December 2027.
• AI Act fines reach up to 35 million euros or 7% of total worldwide annual turnover (Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Art. 99).

The Italian artificial intelligence market reached 1.8 billion euros in 2025, up 50% on the 1.2 billion in 2024, which in turn marked a +58% increase on 2023. The figure comes from the Artificial Intelligence Observatory at Politecnico di Milano, presented in February 2026. It signals a market settling into double-digit growth rates.

Within these numbers is a useful snapshot of where investment is going. According to the same Observatory, 46% of the market's value is attributable to gen AI solutions or hybrid projects, while 54% remains tied to traditional machine-learning projects. Gen AI is growing fast, but the largest share of spending still rests on predictive and analytical models that companies have used for years for forecasting, maintenance and segmentation.

It is worth reading growth over time, because the rate of expansion tells more than the absolute value.

Source: Artificial Intelligence Observatory, Politecnico di Milano (February 2026). Two straight years above +50% place AI among the fastest-growing digital spending categories in the country.

In 2025, 16.4% of Italian companies with at least 10 employees use at least one artificial intelligence technology, according to ISTAT, Italy's national statistics institute. The share was 8.2% in 2024 and 5.0% in 2023: adoption has doubled in twelve months and more than tripled in two years. The 2025 jump is the most significant figure in the historical series.

Company size matters a great deal. According to the same ISTAT data, among companies with more than 250 employees the adoption rate exceeds 53%: more than one large company in two has already brought in at least one AI solution. The gap with smaller companies remains wide, and it explains why the national average stays at 16.4%.

Source for the table: ISTAT, release "Imprese e ICT, Anno 2025" (December 2025). The same release also records where companies apply artificial intelligence. The top three areas by adoption are these.

• Marketing and sales, 33.1%. This is the most widespread area: personalization, lead management, customer analysis.
• Administrative processes, 25.7%. Document automation, case management, back-office support.
• Research, development and innovation, 20.0%. Design, data analysis, development of new products and services.

The fact that marketing and sales lead the ranking confirms that companies start where the return is most immediate and measurable.

On the supply side, the census by the Artificial Intelligence Observatory at Politecnico di Milano identified 1,010 companies supplying artificial intelligence products and services in Italy, including 135 startups funded in the last five years. It is an ecosystem where large system integrators, specialized software houses and young product companies coexist.

The ratio between demand growing at double digits and a supply of just over a thousand players explains why vendor selection has become a governance issue at more structured companies. Whoever adopts AI today is not just buying technology, they are choosing a partner to stay with across multiple project cycles.

The reference regulatory framework is Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, the AI Act, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 12 July 2024 and in force since 1 August 2024. The rules do not all kick in at once: the AI Act applies in stages.

The most debated point concerned high-risk systems. The Digital Omnibus package, voted by the European Parliament on 16 June 2026 and formally adopted by the EU Council on 29 June 2026, postponed the obligations for standalone high-risk systems under Annex III to 2 December 2027, and those for systems embedded in regulated products under Annex I to 2 August 2028.

Source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (Art. 113) and the Digital Omnibus package (June 2026). Since February 2025, two obligations have already been fully operative: the ban on prohibited practices and the obligation to ensure an adequate level of AI competence for anyone who develops and uses these systems.

• Staff AI literacy. Obligation active since 2 February 2025: people using AI systems must have skills adequate to their role.
• Checking for prohibited practices. Since the same 2 February 2025, certain uses of AI are banned, regardless of sector.
• Mapping high-risk systems. Understanding right away which systems fall under Annex III pays off for planning compliance ahead of the 2 December 2027 deadline.

The AI Act sets heavy fines, calibrated to the severity of the violation. Article 99 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 defines three tiers, and for companies the higher of the fixed threshold and the percentage of turnover always applies. SMEs and startups get a more favorable regime that applies the lower amount instead.

Source: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Art. 99. The 7% cap on worldwide turnover places the AI Act among the European regulations with the strictest penalty regimes, in line with what has been seen on the data-protection front.

The market and adoption numbers say one clear thing: the barrier is no longer technology, it is skills. With the AI literacy obligation in force since 2 February 2025 and adoption exceeding 53% at large companies, staff training has become a starting condition, not an add-on.

This is the ground Yellow Tech works on every day. Yellow Tech's data shows more than 20,000 people trained and over 200 AIFIA-certified trainers, alongside more than 500 client organizations supported through their adoption paths. Training, when tied to a company's real use cases, is what turns a pilot project into stable use.

On the applied side, the move from experimental projects to production remains the delicate point. Yellow Tech's data counts more than 300 AI agents in production at client companies: a number that gives a sense of how much the operational phase requires governance, monitoring and continuous oversight, well beyond the choice of model.

• Italy's AI market at 1.8 billion euros, +50% in a year (Politecnico di Milano Observatory).
• 16.4% of companies with at least 10 employees use AI, double the 2024 figure (ISTAT).
• Over 53% adoption at companies with more than 250 employees (ISTAT).
• AI Act high-risk obligations postponed to 2 December 2027 by the Digital Omnibus package (adopted in June 2026).
• Fines of up to 35 million euros or 7% of worldwide turnover (Reg. (EU) 2024/1689).

Lined up together, the numbers describe a transition already under way but still concentrated in the largest organizations. The market grows more than 50% a year, adoption doubles, and the regulation sets precise deadlines and fines. For a structured company, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI, but how to do it sustainably and in compliance.

The three priorities that emerge from the data are consistent with each other. First, stay on top of AI literacy, an obligation already active and a prerequisite for any serious use. Second, map high-risk systems ahead of the 2 December 2027 deadline. Third, take projects from pilot to production with a clear governance model, because that is where adoption either stabilizes or stalls. Whoever starts today has useful months ahead before the toughest deadlines, and can use them to build skills and processes instead of playing catch-up.

If your organization needs to move from numbers to action, across AI adoption, staff training and AI Act compliance, the Yellow Tech team supports structured companies with a tailored path. Request a consultation to build a roadmap based on the data and the deadlines that concern you.