Here’s a breakdown of Gartner’s new $5.3 trillion global spending projections for communication services, data center systems, devices, software and IT services markets.
Worldwide spending on IT will reach $5.43 trillion in 2025 with a slowdown in software and services spending growth offset by an increase in AI-related infrastructure.
The five largest IT markets on a global basis are communication services, data center systems, devices, software and IT services, according to new data from market research firm Gartner.
With Gartner projecting global IT spending to reach $5.43 trillion in 2025, it would represent a roughly 8 percent increase compared to $5.04 trillion in 2024.
“While there is a business pause on net-new spending due to a spike in global uncertainty, the effect is subsumed by ongoing AI and generative AI digitization initiatives,” said Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock in an email to CRN. “For instance, both software and services spending growth in 2025 is expected to slow down due to this ‘uncertainty pause,’ but spending in AI-related infrastructure, such as data center systems, continues to surge.”
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Here are the five biggest tech markets in 2025 and how much each industry expects to generate in sales this year, according to Gartner data.
No. 5: Data Center Systems
2025 Spending: $475 million
2024 Spending: $333 million
Gartner is projecting worldwide data center systems spending will reach $475 million in 2025, representing a whopping 42 percent annual growth rate.
“Data centers are experiencing a surge driven by GenAI, with spending on AI optimized servers, which was virtually nonexistent in 2021, expected to triple that of traditional servers by 2027,” said Gartner’s Lovelock.
No. 4: Devices
2025 Spending: $760 million
2024 Spending: $721 million
Worldwide spending on IT devices will reach $760 million in 2025, representing a 5 percent annual increase compared to 2024.
No. 3: Software
2025 Spending: $1.23 billion
2024 Spending: $1.11 billion
Gartner expects global spending on software will hit $1.23 billion this year, which would represent a 10 percent increase compared to 2024.
In 2024, worldwide spending on software increased 12 percent annually to $1.11 billion compared to 2023.
“With GenAI sliding towards the trough of disillusionment, more spending is being focused on delivered functionality from incumbent software providers,” Lovelock said. “CIOs are looking towards more ‘plug and play’ simple use cases as they are being sold on GenAI functionality, but not necessarily buying the functionality.”
No. 2: Communications Services
2025 Spending: $1.28 billion
2024 Spending: $1.26 billion
Although the second largest IT market in terms of spending in 2025, the communication services market will witness the lowest growth rate.
Gartner expects spending on communications services will reach $1.28 billion in 2025, up only 2 percent compared to $1.26 billion in 2024.
No. 1: IT Services
2025 Spending: $1.69 billion
2024 Spending: $1.61 billion
Similar to the past several years, IT services spending will be the largest revenue driver for the entire tech industry in 2025.
Worldwide spending on IT services will reach $1.69 billion in 2025, up 4 percent compared to 2024.
“The IT hardware and infrastructure sectors are particularly affected due to price increases and supply chain disruptions. In contrast, ongoing or recurring spending, such as cloud and managed services, is maintaining greater stability,” said Gartner’s Lovelock.