Top 5 Tech Markets In 2024 By Global Spending: Gartner
Here are the global sales projections for IT services, software, data center systems, communication services and devices for 2024, according to new Gartner data.
Global spending on technology is expected to reach $5 trillion in 2024, according to new Gartner data, as the IT services market will become the largest sales generator this year.
Additionally, Gartner estimates that the software market will surpass $1 trillion in sales for the first time ever in 2024, thanks to a 9 percent sales growth compared to 2023.
The top five tech markets that will lead worldwide spending in 2024 are: software, communication services, devices, IT services and data center systems. CRN breaks down exactly how much global spending each market segment will see in 2024 alongside 2023 comparisons.
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$5 Trillion Global IT Market
Before jumping into the sales projections for each market in 2024, it is key to note that Gartner believes artificial intelligence, specifically generative AI (GenAI), will eventually change the entire IT landscape.
“While GenAI will change everything, it won’t impact IT spending significantly, similar to IoT, blockchain and other big trends we have experienced,” said Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock in a statement. “2024 will be the year when organizations actually invest in planning for how to use GenAI, however, IT spending will be driven by more traditional forces, such as profitability, labor, and dragged down by a continued wave of change fatigue.”
In 2023, overall IT spending grew only 3.3. percent year over year to $4.68 billion worldwide.
This year, Gartner expects annual spending to increase 6.8 percent to approximately $5 trillion in 2024—more than doubling 2023 growth rates.
Click through to read Gartner’s exact sales figures for each IT market segment in 2024.
No. 5: Data Center Systems
2024 Spending: $261 Billion
2023 Spending: $243 Billion
The data center systems market is expected to reach $261 billion in 2024.
This would represent a 7.5 percent revenue increase compared to the $243 billion spent on data center systems in 2023, according to Gartner.
The data center systems market includes data center equipment such as servers, storage, power and networking hardware. According to Gartner data, the data center systems market has witnessed the lowest total sales growth over the past several years.
No. 4: Devices
2024 Spending: $732 Billion
2023 Spending: $700 Billion
Gartner expects spending on IT devices to hit $732 billion in 2024, representing an increase of 5 percent compared to 2023.
Worldwide spending on devices reached approximately $700 billion last year, a decrease of 9 percent compared to 2022.
“Adoption rates among consumers for devices and communications services plateaued over a decade ago,” said Gartner’s Lovelock. “Consumer spending levels are primarily driven by price changes and replacement cycles, leaving room for only incremental growths, so being surpassed by software and services was inevitable.”
No. 3: Software
2024 Spending: $1 Trillion
2023 Spending: $913 Billion
Global spending on software is expected to exceed $1 trillion, approximately $1.03 trillion, in 2024.
This would represent a nearly 13 percent growth increase compared to 2023 when software spending reached $913 billion.
Revenue growth generated from software has increased at the highest rate over the past few years compared to all other categories, according to Gartner data. In 2023, for example, spending on software increase 12 percent compared to 2022.
No. 2: Communications Services
2024 Spending: $1.47 Trillion
2023 Spending: $1.44 Trillion
The global communications services market is expected to reach $1.47 trillion in 2024.
This would represent a modest 2 percent growth increase compared to 2023 when communication services spending generated $1.44 trillion.
The communication services market exploded in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID global pandemic as businesses of all shapes and sizes invested in remote work communication solutions such as Zoom. Growth began to lower in 2022. For example, the communication services market grew just 1 percent in 2023 compared to 2022, according to Gartner.
No. 1: IT Services
2024 Spending: $1.5 Trillion
2023 Spending: $1.38 Trillion
Worldwide spending on IT services will exceed $1.5 trillion in 2024, overtaking communications services spending for the first time.
This would represent an increase of nearly 9 percent year over year compared to $1.38 trillion in services IT spending in 2023.
Gartner said the large growth in IT services spending is largely due to enterprises investing in organizational efficiency and optimization projects.
“Enterprises continue to find more uses for technology—IT has moved out of the back office, through the front office and is now revenue producing, until there is a plateau for how and where technology can be used in an enterprise, there cannot be a plateau in enterprise IT spending,” said Gartner’s Lovelock.