Global IT spending to grow by 8% in 2024 – Gartner forecasts

According to Gartner forecasts, global IT spending in 2024 will grow by 8% compared to 2023, to $5.06 trillion. The previous forecast predicted a 6.8% increase. It is also expected that global IT spending will exceed $8 trillion long before the end of the decade.

Spending on data center systems will grow by 10% in 2024, compared to a 4% increase in 2023. This will largely be due to the planned introduction of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).

“We are seeing a cycle of story, plan, execution when it comes to GenAI. In 2023, enterprises were telling the story of GenAI and in 2024 we are seeing most of them planning for eventual execution in 2025. Technology providers are required to be a step ahead of this cycle and are already in the execution phase… In 2024, AI servers will account for close to 60% of hyperscalers total server spending,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished vice president of research at Gartner.

According to Gartner, in 2024, $259.6 billion will be spent on data center systems. Software will see a 13.9% increase in 2024 and spend $1.042 trillion. Spending on IT services will increase by 9.7% to $1.52 trillion, and on communication services by 4.3% to $1.55 trillion.

It is also expected that as the average life expectancy of mobile phones decreases and consumers and businesses change smartphones more frequently, spending on devices will reach $668 billion, a 3.6% increase.