The growth rate of the global information technology (IT) market will almost double, predicts the research company International Data Corporation (IDC).

In 2016, global IT spending climbed 2.5%. In 2017, they will increase by 4.5%, reaching 2.1 trillion dollars due to the powerful cycles of upgrading infrastructure equipment and mobile devices in the second half of the year. In 2018, the market will also grow by 4%, the study says.

Expenditures on information and communication technologies this year will be measured at $ 3.5 trillion, which is 2% more than a year ago. According to the forecasts of specialists, world expenses for ICT solutions by 2020 will reach 5.5 trillion dollars, thanks in large part to the "Internet of things" segment (IoT). The volume of the latter by the specified period will be 1.3 trillion dollars, of which $ 1 trillion will be for new technologies outside the traditional categories (devices, infrastructure, software, services and telecom).

The largest growth rates in the IT market in 2017 will show segments of infrastructure equipment (servers, network devices, data storage systems and. ), Enterprise software and mobile devices. Server sales will increase by 4% and 5% in 2017 and 2018, respectively, due to the fact that operators of cloud data centers are increasing investment to meet the growing demand for cloud services.

Corporate expenses for servers and storage systems will jump in the second half of 2017 due to the onset of the update cycle of this equipment. Meanwhile, demand for infrastructure leasing services (IaaS solutions) will remain high and will result in costs of more than $ 25 billion in 2017 and over $ 50 billion by 2020.

Last year, the global smartphone market experienced a strong slowdown in sales (growth was only 1%) due to the saturation of demand for these products and intense price competition in many regions. In the second half of 2017, growth is expected to increase due to the release of new flagship devices and the growing penetration of smartphones in emerging markets, including China. The global implementation of smart phones in 2017 will rise by 7%, amounting to 439 billion dollars.

"Cloud computing and mobile devices remain the main drivers of growth in IT spending, despite the fact that the focus is on new technologies such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence and robotics," said Stephen Minton, vice president of IDC Customer Insights & Analysis. "The share of new technologies on the market will grow in the next five to ten years, but in the short term there will also be an upswing in the so-called third platform markets, including cloud services, mobile solutions and large data".