Gartner expects (even) more IT spending

Upward correction: Gartner forecasts more IT investments. This is due to GenAI - from which providers of data center equipment in particular will benefit.

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Jul 18, 2024 at 9:43 pm CEST

2 min. read

iX Magazin

By

Achim Born

This article was originally published in German and has been automatically translated.

5.26 trillion US dollars: this is how high Gartner estimates global IT spending to be in its latest forecast for 2024. The increase of 7.5 percent compared to 2023 is half a percentage point lower than the analysts had predicted in the spring. However, the volume of 5.06 trillion dollars forecast at the time is easily exceeded, as the 2023 starting figure has also been revised upwards. According to more recent calculations, a good 200 billion dollars more was spent on end devices, software and IT services, meaning that market researchers estimate the total volume of IT investments in the previous year at 4.9 trillion dollars.

GenAI hype

It is not astounding that the hype surrounding GenAI is fueling the willingness to invest. "The impact of GenAI is being felt in all technology segments, but not everyone is benefiting from it," observes Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock. This is particularly true for the software segment. Gartner expects a 12.6 percent increase in software investments – and according to Lovelock, part of this increase can also be attributed to the influence of GenAI. However, the susceptible additional costs give the impression of an expense item that has been passed through. In this context, the Gartner analyst speaks of a kind of tax, as the revenue generated by software companies from the sale of GenAI extensions or tokens would flow more or less directly back to providers of the AI model.

This in turn literally pays off for manufacturers in the data center equipment market. "The computing power needs of GenAI are being felt throughout the data center and spending in this segment reflects this huge demand," Lovelock comments on the development. Consequently, the expected expenditure is being raised significantly. The current forecast now predicts a 24% jump in growth in the data center segment to 293 billion dollars in 2024. Previously, analysts had only estimated an increase of ten percent. Details of the new forecast can be found at Gartner.