Worldwide IT Spending Forecast to Grow 9.8 Percent in 2025

Worldwide IT spending is expected to total $5.61 trillion in 2025, an increase of 9.8% from 2024, according to Gartner. Segments including data center systems, devices, and software will see double-digit growth in 2025, largely due to GenAI hardware upgrades. However, these upgraded segments will not differentiate themselves in terms of functionality yet, even with new hardware.

“While budgets for CIOs are increasing, a significant portion will merely offset price increases within their recurrent spending,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “This means that, in 2025, nominal spending versus real IT spending will be skewed, with price hikes absorbing some or all of budget growth. All major categories reflect higher-than-expected prices, prompting CIOs to defer and scale back their true budget expectations.”

"GenAI is sliding toward the trough of disillusionment which reflects CIOs declining expectations for GenAI, but not their spending on this technology," said Lovelock. “For instance, the new AI-ready PCs do not yet have ‘must have’ applications that utilize the hardware. While both consumers and enterprises will purchase AI-enabled PC, tablets, and mobile phones, those purchases will not be overly influenced by the GenAI functionality.”

Spending on AI-optimized servers will easily double spending on traditional servers in 2025, reaching $202 billion. “IT services companies and hyperscalers account for over 70% of spending in 2025,” said Lovelock. “By 2028, hyperscalers will operate $1 trillion’ worth of AI optimized servers, but not within their traditional business model or IaaS Market. Hyperscalers are pivoting to be part of the oligopoly AI model market.”