# McKinsey: 32% of Organizations Build Internal Software Rather Than Buy

> McKinsey's latest State of AI survey turns up a statistic that should make software vendors nervous: nearly a third of organizations, 32 percent, say they decided against buying at least one software product because agentic coding tools let them build the feature internally instead. When AI can stand up a working tool in days, the classic build-versus-buy calculation shifts. The broader picture is one of scaling, not experimenting. Among large organizations with over a billion dollars in revenue, 40 percent now say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27 percent a year earlier. As agents spread across the enterprise, McKinsey frames IT infrastructure as the new backbone that has to orchestrate all of it. There is a sobering counterweight, though. Only 6 percent of respondents qualify as AI high performers, meaning they attribute at least 5 percent of operating profit to AI, even as spending climbs. The gap between activity and measurable payoff is the real story here: plenty of companies are building, far fewer can yet show the money.

_Section: [Daily AI Updates](https://www.wortins.com/daily-ai) · Source: McKinsey · Published Friday, September 4, 2026_

## Wortins' read

McKinsey's latest State of AI survey turns up a statistic that should make software vendors nervous: nearly a third of organizations, 32 percent, say they decided against buying at least one software product because agentic coding tools let them build the feature internally instead. When AI can stand up a working tool in days, the classic build-versus-buy calculation shifts. The broader picture is one of scaling, not experimenting. Among large organizations with over a billion dollars in revenue, 40 percent now say they are scaling AI agents, up from 27 percent a year earlier. As agents spread across the enterprise, McKinsey frames IT infrastructure as the new backbone that has to orchestrate all of it. There is a sobering counterweight, though. Only 6 percent of respondents qualify as AI high performers, meaning they attribute at least 5 percent of operating profit to AI, even as spending climbs. The gap between activity and measurable payoff is the real story here: plenty of companies are building, far fewer can yet show the money.

## Source

[Read the full story at McKinsey](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-technology/our-insights/reimagining-tech-infrastructure-for-and-with-agentic-ai)

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