• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechIDC

Businesses Expected to Spend $2.7 Trillion on I.T. by 2020

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 29, 2016, 8:46 PM ET
Silhouettes
Computer hacker silhouette. Blue binary code background. Seattle office.Photograph by Bill Hinton—Moment Editorial/Getty Images

Companies may not be buying as much hardware for their data centers as they used to, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t spending money on information technology.

Analyst firm International Data Corporation said Monday that global spending on I.T. products and services will reach $2.7 trillion in 2020, a 12.5% increase from the projected $2.4 trillion in sales for 2016.

Financial services and manufacturing companies will be big buyers of cloud computing, mobile technology, and data analytics services and will contribute the most to overall IT spending, according to IDC. The telecommunication industry is also expected play a big role, and when combined with manufacturing and financial services, will “generate nearly a third of worldwide IT revenues throughout the forecast,” the report said.

“While the consumer and public sectors have dragged on overall I.T. spending so far in 2016, we see stronger momentum in other key industries including financial services and manufacturing,” IDC vice president of customer insights and analysis Stephen Minton said in a statement.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

A quarter of all I.T. sales in 2015 were driven by consumer purchases of smartphones, the report said. However, the authors noted that consumer spending on those devices has fallen in 2016 along with sales of personal computers and tablets. If the smartphone or tablet market eventually rebounds, IDC projects that it will be because businesses are buying the devices rather than just consumers.

IDC also said that companies with over 1,000 employees will account for over 45% of global I.T. spending in 2020, while businesses with 100 to 999 employees “will see the fastest growth in IT spending.”

For more about enterprise technology, watch:

“Meanwhile, the strongest growth is still among mid-sized companies, which are more nimble than very large enterprises and less exposed to economic volatility than the smallest businesses,” Minton said.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
'I just don't have a good feeling about this': Top economist Claudia Sahm says the economy quietly shifted and everyone's now looking at the wrong alarm
By Eleanor PringleJanuary 31, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Ryan Serhant starts work at 4:30 a.m.—he says most people don’t achieve their dreams because ‘what they really want is just to be lazy’
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Future of Work
Ford CEO has 5,000 open mechanic jobs with up to 6-figure salaries from the shortage of manually skilled workers: 'We are in trouble in our country'
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJanuary 31, 2026
18 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Alexis Ohanian walked out of the LSAT 20 minutes in, went to a Waffle House, and decided he was 'gonna invent a career.' He founded Reddit
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
18 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Right before Trump named Warsh to lead the Fed, Powell seemed to respond to some of his biggest complaints about the central bank
By Jason MaJanuary 30, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Top engineers at Anthropic, OpenAI say AI now writes 100% of their code—with big implications for the future of software development jobs
By Beatrice NolanJanuary 29, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in Tech

Elon Musk sits with his hands on his knees in front of a blue "World Economic Forum" background.
Economythe future of work
Musk’s fantasy for a future where work is optional just got more real: UK minister calls for universal basic income to cushion AI-related job losses
By Sasha RogelbergFebruary 1, 2026
34 minutes ago
Startups & VentureOpenAI
Nvidia CEO signals investment in OpenAI round may be largest yet
By Debby Wu and BloombergJanuary 31, 2026
10 hours ago
Startups & VentureVenture Capital
Silicon Valley legend Kleiner Perkins was written off. Then an unlikely VC showed up
By Allie GarfinkleJanuary 31, 2026
14 hours ago
AIData Security
Moltbook, a social network where AI agents hang together, may be ‘the most interesting place on the internet right now’
By Jason MaJanuary 31, 2026
16 hours ago
Photo of Alexis Ohanian
SuccessFounders
Alexis Ohanian walked out of the LSAT 20 minutes in, went to a Waffle House, and decided he was ‘gonna invent a career.’ He founded Reddit
By Preston ForeJanuary 31, 2026
18 hours ago
Netflix
Big TechMarkets
Netflix may be turning into an ‘entertainment giant,’ but its stock looks like ‘dead money’ to investors
By Nick LichtenbergJanuary 31, 2026
20 hours ago