Global IT Spending to Reach $3.7 Trillion in 2018

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.7 trillion in 2018, an increase of 4.3 percent from 2017 estimated spending of $3.5 trillion, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.

Enterprise software and IT services continue to exhibit strong growth, with communications services continuing to drive the majority of spending. Software spending is projected to grow 8.5 percent in 2017, and it will grow another 9.4 percent in 2018 to total $387 billion (see Table 1). IT services spending is on pace to grow 4 percent in 2017 to reach $931 billion, and increase 5.3 percent in 2018 to reach $980 billion.

The devices segment is expected to exhibit growth for the first time in two years with an increase of 5.3 percent in 2017 and 5 percent in 2018. Increased average selling prices for premium phones in mature markets, partially due to the introduction of the iPhone 8 and 10, along with an underlying demand for PCs from businesses replacing their machines with Windows 10 PCs is driving the growth in this segment.

Table 1. Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars)


2017 Spending
2017 Growth (%)
2018 Spending
2018 Growth (%)
Data Center Systems
173
1.7
176
1.8
Enterprise Software
354
8.5
387
9.4
Devices
664
5.3
697
5.0
IT Services
931
4.0
980
5.3
Communications Services
1,387
0.9
1,417
2.2
Overall IT
3,508
3.3
3,658
4.3
Source: Gartner (October 2017)

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