Gartner says uncertainty pause is slowing fresh IT initiatives but AI infrastructure and competitiveness keep tech budgets resilient.
Despite a global climate of uncertainty, worldwide IT spending is expected to grow by 7.9% in 2025, reaching $5.43 trillion, according to a new forecast from Gartner. The growth is largely powered by enterprise investments in AI infrastructure and digital transformation, even as CIOs strategically pause net-new spending initiatives.
The forecast highlights how economic and geopolitical shocks are prompting businesses to act with caution. While 61% of enterprises began 2025 in a stronger position than the previous year, only 24% expect to end the year ahead of plan. This hesitancy, dubbed the “uncertainty pause,” reflects delayed IT initiatives—not budget cuts.
“Budgets remain intact, but new spending decisions are being deferred,” said John-David Lovelock, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. Ongoing or recurring costs, especially for cloud and managed services, remain stable, while hardware and infrastructure investments face pressure due to rising costs and supply chain issues.
Yet AI remains a clear growth engine. Spending on AI-optimized data center systems is set to grow by 42.4% in 2025, up from a 40.3% increase the previous year. Lovelock notes that spending on AI servers—which were virtually nonexistent in 2021—is on track to triple that of traditional servers by 2027.
Enterprises are also shifting focus toward more practical AI applications. As GenAI moves past its initial hype, CIOs are favoring “plug-and-play” functionalities offered by incumbent software vendors. However, the market is experiencing a mismatch—GenAI features are being sold, but not necessarily adopted, due to a focus on tangible, easy-to-deploy use cases.
The Gartner survey, conducted with 252 senior executives from large enterprises, found that 62% believe AI will define competitive advantage for the next decade. In fact, 64% of enterprises cited competitiveness as their top reason for continuing tech investments despite market uncertainty.
In 2025, spending is forecasted to rise across all IT segments:
- Data Center Systems: $474.9 billion (+42.4%)
- Software: $1.23 trillion (+10.5%)
- IT Services: $1.69 trillion (+4.4%)
- Devices: $759.6 billion (+5.4%)
- Communications Services: $1.28 trillion (+2.1%)
Gartner’s quarterly IT spending forecast, based on data from over 1,000 vendors, helps CIOs and tech leaders navigate this complex environment. Additional insights will be shared during the upcoming Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in India, Australia, the U.S., Japan, and Spain.
Even as the world reels from economic and geopolitical disruptions, the race for AI readiness is keeping tech spending resilient. For CIOs, it’s no longer about just adopting technology—it’s about using it strategically to stay competitive in a fast-changing landscape.