Worldwide IT Spending To Grow 9.8% To $5.61 Tn In 2025, But It Will Not Be 'Real': Gartner Report

Even as budgets for CIOs are increasing and worldwide IT spending is expected to total $5.61 trillion in 2025—an increase of 9.8% from 2024—a significant portion will merely offset price increases within their recurrent spending, according to the latest forecast by Gartner Inc. 

This also indicates that, in 2025, nominal spending will be skewed as compared to real IT spending, with price hikes absorbing some or all of budget growth. All major categories within the IT segment are reflecting higher-than-expected prices, prompting CIOs to defer and scale back their true budget expectations.

Segments including data centre systems (23.2%), devices (10.4%) and software (14.2%) will see double-digit growth in 2025, reaching $405,505 million, $810,234 million, and $1,246,842 million, respectively, largely due to generative AI hardware upgrades. However, these upgraded segments will not differentiate themselves in terms of functionality yet, even with new hardware.

While gen AI is sliding towards the trough of disillusionment, reflecting CIOs’ declining expectations for the technology, their spending on the technology continues, according to Gartner. For example, the new AI-ready computers do not yet have required applications that utilise the hardware. While consumers and enterprises will purchase AI-ready PCs, tablets, mobile phones, and other devices, those purchases may not be overly influenced by the gen AI functionality.

In 2025, the amount spent on AI-optimised servers will double that of regular servers, totalling $202 billion. Also, in 2025, over 70% of expenditures on AI-optimised servers will come from IT services providers and hyperscalers, predicts Gartner.

Hyperscalers are shifting their focus to the AI model market, and by 2028, it is anticipated that they will run $1 trillion worth of AI-optimised servers—but not in the IaaS market or within their traditional business models.