International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research firm, has released a new report stating that global information technology (IT) spending is on a slow decline due to the weakening economy. IDC has projected a growth rate of 4.4% to $3.25 trillion for 2023, down from the previous forecast of 4.5%. This is the fifth consecutive month that IDC has lowered its 2023 forecast for global IT spending.
IDC Vice President Stephen Minton stated that since the fourth quarter of 2021, there have been clear and measurable signs of a moderate pullback in some areas of IT spending. However, Minton emphasized that despite this pullback, tech spending is still resilient compared to historical economic downturns and other types of business spending. But rising interest rates are now impacting capital spending, he added.
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The impact of the decline in global IT spending is expected to be significant in the consumer markets. Consumer IT spending is expected to decline by 2% this year, which is the second consecutive year of declining consumer tech spending. In contrast, there was an 18% growth in consumer tech spending in 2021. However, enterprise demand for cloud and digital transformation is expected to remain strong.
