Worldwide IT Spending Forecasted to Grow 7.5% in 2024 — Gartner

  • Worldwide IT spending is forecasted to reach $5.26 trillion in 2024, showing a 7.5% increase from 2023.

  • The forecast reflects a slight decrease from the previous quarter's projection of 8% growth but marks an increase from the overall spend forecast of $5.06 trillion.

  • GenAI is making an impact across all technology segments and subsegments, with some software spending increases attributable to GenAI. However, for software companies, GenAI resembles a tax, as revenue gains from GenAI-related sales flow back to their AI model provider partner.


GenAI “Tax” Affecting Segments Such as Software

John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner

Worldwide IT spending is expected to total $5.26 trillion in 2024, an increase of 7.5% from 2023, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. This is a decrease from the previous quarter’s forecast of 8% growth, but an increase of the overall spend forecast of $5.06 trillion.

“Generative AI (GenAI) is being felt across all technology segments and subsegments, but not to everyone’s benefit,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Some software spending increases are attributable to GenAI, but to a software company, GenAI most closely resembles a tax. Revenue gains from the sale of GenAI add-ons or tokens flow back to their AI model provider partner.”

Data Center Systems Spending Booms Under GenAI

Spending on data center systems is expected to increase 24% in 2024, up from the previous quarter’s forecast of 10% growth. This is due in large part to increased planning for GenAI. (See Table 1).

“The compute power needs of GenAI are being felt across the data center, and spending in that segment reflects this ravenous demand,” said Lovelock.

CIO Team Fatigue Lasting Longer Than Expected

IT services spending is now projected to grow 7.1% in 2024, down from 9.7% within the last forecast, due in part to slower spending across subsegments that include consulting and business process services. 

"The change fatigue in CIOs that we saw at the start of the year has now abated and the contract backlogs going back to the third quarter of 2023 are being cleared. We expect to see a larger rush towards the end of the year to make up for the slow start," said Lovelock. 

For more information, please visit www.gartner.com.

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