Global IT spending is forecast to grow by 3.7 percent in 2020, mainly due to enterprise software spending, according to a Gartner report.
The IT spend this year is pegged at $3.7 trillion in 2019, an increase of 0.4 percent over the 2018 figure.
IT spending in the US is forecast to grow 3.5 percent in 2019. IT spending in China is likely to grow at 0.1 percent this year.
“Tariffs do not have a direct effect on IT spending. Should tariffs extend to devices such as PCs and mobile phones, we will likely see manufacturers switch supply routes to minimise costs and have their technology made outside China,” John-David Lovelock, research vice-president at Gartner, said.
“The slowdown in IT spending in 2019 is not expected to stretch as far into 2020, despite concerns over a recession and companies cutting back on discretionary IT spending,” John-David Lovelock said.
Spending on security would increase by 10.5 percent in 2019. Cloud security is projected to grow 41.2 percent over the next five years.
The devices market will see the sharpest spending decline among all segments in 2019, down 5.3 percent from $713 billion in 2018. This segment is expected to see growth of 1.2 percent in 2020.