Worldwide IT spending to reach $5.43 trillion this year, driven by AI infra

New Delhi, July 17 Worldwide IT spending is expected to total $5.43 trillion in 2025, an increase of 7.9 per cent compared to 2024, a report said on Thursday.

While there is a slowdown in business due to the ongoing geopolitical scenario, the spending on AI-oriented infrastructure would lead to spending in the IT sector, Gartner, an IT consultancy firm, forecasted in its recent report.

“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 (GenAI) digitisation initiatives,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner.

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 centre systems, continues to surge, the report stated.

"Data centres are experiencing a surge driven by GenAI, with spending on AI-optimised servers, which was virtually non-existent in 2021, expected to triple that of traditional servers by 2027,” said Lovelock.

This aligns with a Gartner survey of 252 senior leaders across various industries in North America and Western Europe with enterprise-wide revenue of $500 million or more from March to May of 2025, where 62 per cent of respondents identified AI as defining the future of competition for the next 10 years.

According to the report, competitiveness is a primary reason why enterprises will invest in technology and business change in an eroding environment.

“With GenAI sliding towards the trough of disillusionment, more time and spending is being focused on delivered functionality from incumbent software providers,” Lovelock added.

Starting early in the second quarter of 2025, there has been an “uncertainty pause,” encompassing a strategic suspension of net-new initiatives across a breadth of departments, including IT.

This pause is driven by heightened uncertainty and geopolitical risks. In response, the global corporate sector is exercising increased caution, as organisations seek to mitigate adverse impacts from these multifaceted challenges, the report noted.

The Gartner survey claimed that 61 per cent of enterprises started 2025 in a better position than at the same time last year, but only 24 per cent expect to end the year ahead of their 2025 plans.

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