Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.7 trillion in 2019, an increase of 0.4% from 2018, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. This is the lowest forecast growth in 2019 so far. Global IT spending is expected to rebound in 2020 with forecast growth of 3.7%, primarily due to enterprise software spending.
“The slowdown in IT spending in 2019 is not expected to stretch as far into 2020 despite concerns over a recession and companies cutting back on discretionary IT spending,” said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner.
“Despite the ongoing tariff war, U.S. IT spending is forecast to grow 3.5% in 2019, but IT spending in China is expected to grow only 0.1%. “Tariffs do not have a direct effect on IT spending, yet. Should tariffs extend to devices like PCs and mobile phones, we will likely see manufacturers switch supply routes to minimize costs and have their technology made outside of China.” said Mr. Lovelock
The device market will see the sharpest spending decline among all segments in 2019, down 5.3% from $713 billion in 2018 (see Table 1). However, the market is expected to see modest growth of 1.2% in 2020. “Similar to how consumers have reached a threshold for upgrading to new technology and applications, technology general managers and product managers should invest only in the next generation of products that will push them closer to becoming a true technology company,” said Mr. Lovelock.
Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)
| 2019
Spending |
2019
Growth (%) |
2020
Spending |
2020
Growth (%) |
2021 Spending | 2021 Growth (%) | |
| Data Center Systems | 205 | -2.5 | 210 | 2.6 | 212 | 1.0 |
| Enterprise Software | 457 | 8.8 | 507 | 10.9 | 560 | 10.5 |
| Devices | 675 | -5.3 | 683 | 1.2 | 685 | 0.4 |
| IT Services | 1,031 | 3.7 | 1,088 | 5.5 | 1,147 | 5.5 |
| Communications Services | 1,364 | -1.1 | 1,384 | 1.5 | 1,413 | 2.1 |
| Overall IT | 3,732 | 0.4 | 3,872 | 3.7 | 4,018 | 3.8 |
Source: Gartner (October 2019)
