Global IT spending is expected to total US$ 5.74 trillion in 2025, which represents an increase of 9.3% compared to 2024, according to the latest forecast of the Gartner, Inc..
“ Current spending on Generative Artificial Intelligence (Genai) have been predominantly made by technology companies that are building the necessary infrastructure to offer genai,” says John-David Lovelock, Vice President and Analyst at Gartner. “ the esters (Chief Information Officers) will begin to spend with Genai, going beyond the proofs of concept, starting in 2025. More money will be invested, but the expectations CIOs have on Genai's capabilities will decrease. The reality of what can be achieved with the current models of this technology and the state of the CIO data will not meet today's high expectations.”
Server sales continue to boost the data center segment
Expenditure on data center systems grew by almost 35% in 2024. Although an equal leap is not expected in 2025, the segment is expected to grow by almost US$ 50 billion next year. This significant growth is driven by server sales, which are expected to almost triple, from more than US$ 134 billion in 2023 to US$ 332 billion by 2028 – including more than US$ 257 billion estimated for 2025.
Forecast of global IT spending (in millions of US dollars)
| Expenses in 2024 | Growth 2024 (%) | Expenses in 2025 | Growth 2025 (%) | |
| data center | 318.008 | 34,7 | 367.171 | 15,5 |
| devices | 735.764 | 6,2 | 805.722 | 9,5 |
| software | 1.087.800 | 11,7 | 1.239.779 | 14,0 |
| IT Services | 1.587.913 | 5,6 | 1.737.754 | 9,4 |
| Telecommunications Services | 1.530.299 | 2,0 | 1.596.890 | 4,4 |
| IT RESULTS | 5.259.784 | 7,2 | 5.747.317 | 9,3 |
“ Genai will easily overcome the effects that cloud and outsourcing providers had in previous years compared to data center systems,” says Lovelock. “It took 20 years for cloud and outsourcing vendors to reach US$ 67 billion per year on servers. Demand for Genai will help almost triple sales of servers from 2023 to 2028.”.
software and IT services will drive growth
Software spending is expected to increase by 14%, reaching US$ 1.23 trillion in 2025, above the 11.7% growth that is estimated for 2024. Meanwhile, IT services are expected to grow 9.4%, reaching US$ 1.73 trillion in 2025, which represents an increase of 5.6% in 2024.
“Software and IT services are great engines of IT growth,” says Lovelock. “It is expected that the expenses in these segments will be on AI-related projects, including email and content creation. This is a market that, despite its age and having been consolidated in a small number of participants, will add US$ 6.6 billion to global spending in 2024 and US$ 7.4 billion in 2025, partly due to products and services with Generative Artificial Intelligence.”
“ Gartner predicts that US$ 500 billion will be added to spending each year in terms of growth rates. With that in mind, global IT spending is expected to surpass the $$ mark by 2028.”
Gartner's IT spending forecasting methodology is strongly based on rigorous sales analysis of more than 1,000 suppliers across the entire range of IT products and services. Gartner uses primary research techniques, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a comprehensive database with information on the size of the market on which it bases its forecasts.
Gartner's quarterly forecast provides a unique perspective on global IT spending on hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications segments. These reports help Gartner customers understand market opportunities and challenges. The most recent survey on IT spending forecasting is available to Gartner customers at "Gartner Market Databook, 3Q24 UpdateAs part of the project, an
Learn more on Gartner's free webinar It Spending Forecast, 3Q24 Update: 2025, The Trough is Coming.

