The global IT market has entered a historic period. Nearly three decades after the Windows 95 revolution that paved the way for mass adoption of personal computers and the Internet, a new investment super-cycle is transforming the industry once again.
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2025 marked a 30-year record in global IT spending, reaching an absolute figure of $4.25 trillion. Practically speaking, IT investments globally moved at a pace equivalent to 14%, marking the fastest growth rate since 1996. When including telecommunications and business services expenditures, the total IT and telecommunications market approached the staggering sum of $7 trillion in 2025.
Moreover, these historically high speeds are not expected to slow down in 2026, a year during which a deceleration of the frantic pace is anticipated, but still at historically high speeds. Despite discussions about how and when this technological super-cycle might “cool down,” research firm IDC sees no signs of exhaustion. On the contrary, businesses appear ready to increase their budgets again. For 2026, IDC predicts IT spending will increase by 10%, a rate lower than the explosive 2025, but still one of the strongest in the last three decades.
IDC warns of potential pressures, such as expected memory component shortages, which could increase PC prices. However, it emphasizes that even in a mild recession scenario, “the majority of IT spending will continue,” estimating that the probability of a “perfect storm” similar to 2001 remains low.
Steady upward momentum
In IDC’s monthly Worldwide Black Book edition, the 2025 forecast was upgraded for the seventh consecutive month. This steady upward momentum reflects market outperformance and aggressive expansion of Artificial Intelligence infrastructure globally.
Service providers are investing more than ever in data centers to meet explosive demand for Generative AI and cloud-first architectures. Simultaneously, businesses are increasing their spending on enterprise software, digital transformation, and security systems. It’s no coincidence that 2025 recorded an unprecedented 86% increase in service provider investments in data center infrastructure.
This surge reveals the transition to the “heavy” era of Artificial Intelligence, where needs for computing power, storage, and high-performance networks are growing exponentially. With investments approaching half a trillion dollars, these infrastructures are transforming from a supporting element into a strategic development platform. The massive deployment of data centers serves as the foundation for next-generation AI workloads, signaling that this cycle is not temporary but deeply structural. Software spending is also estimated to have increased by 14% in 2025, as companies invest in analytics, optimization, and AI tools. As IDC notes: “AI is the major protagonist of 2025, but most investments are made in service provider infrastructure.
These investments are supported by steady demand for basic IT products and services, creating a virtuous cycle of technological and macroeconomic development.” The market’s momentum had already become apparent from early 2025. In the first quarter of the year, IT spending recorded 16% growth, the highest in nearly three decades.
Performance was also boosted by PC procurement rushes ahead of new tariffs, but the strong picture is recorded overall in the business segment. Corporate spending increased by 11% in Q1 and 10% in Q2, confirming that investment psychology remains resilient against macroeconomic uncertainties.
The fastest-growing sector of 2025 was undoubtedly Artificial Intelligence infrastructure. IDC estimates that service provider spending on data center infrastructure (servers, storage, and networking) increased by 86% in 2025, reaching nearly half a trillion dollars in a single year. Analysts comment that the scale of investments reflects the depth of transition to an AI-driven economy. Demand for new workloads, cloud-native applications, generative AI models, and high-computational-intensity services is shaping a new technological map, where infrastructure constitutes the core of value.
The market picture shows an industry in full acceleration. 2025 is recorded as a landmark year not only for strong growth but also because it signals the beginning of a long technological cycle, based on the universal adoption of Artificial Intelligence, the need for robust infrastructure, cloud maturation, and the digitization of every business function. “Whether the 2025 pace is repeated or slows down, what is certain is that the global IT market is entering a decade where Artificial Intelligence will be at the center of every company, transforming technology from a tool into a fundamental driver of economic development,” analysts conclude.
