  We analyze the perturbative quantization of the spectral action in
noncommutative geometry and establish its one-loop renormalizability in a
generalized sense, while staying within the spectral framework of
noncommutative geometry. Our result is based on the perturbative expansion of
the spectral action in terms of higher Yang-Mills and Chern-Simons forms. In
the spirit of random noncommutative geometries, we consider the path integral
over matrix fluctuations around a fixed noncommutative gauge background and
show that the corresponding one-loop counterterms are of the same form so that
they can be safely subtracted from the spectral action. A crucial role will be
played by the appropriate Ward identities, allowing for a fully spectral
formulation of the quantum theory at one loop.
