Worldwide IT Spending To Reach $3.25 Trillion in 2023

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has revised its 2023 forecast for global IT spending downwards, reflecting the impact of a weakening economy on technology investments and it's not looking great.

The latest forecast projects that the overall growth in constant currency this year is expected to be 4.4% to reach $3.25 trillion, slightly lower than the previous month's forecast of 4.5% and a significant drop from the 6.0% forecast made in October 2022.

In the Hardware category, the market intelligence group reduced its expectations for some products such as personal computers, servers, wearable devices, and other peripherals.

Meanwhile, in the service providers category, demand for cloud services will continue to drive growth despite inflationary pressures. However, non-cloud spending is expected to decrease in the coming months.

The report also noted that the consumer market will be the most affected, with consumer IT spending expected to decrease by 2% this year. This will mark the second consecutive year of decline, which is a significant slump from the 18% growth seen in 2021. However, the enterprise demand for cloud and digital transformation is expected to remain strong, despite economic challenges.

Overall, direct IT spending is expected to grow by 6.4%, while indirect spending through channel providers will only increase by 2.5%. This is due to credit tightening, which is affecting the ability of smaller businesses and consumers to finance technology investments.