Global IT spend to slow on strong dollar

dubai — Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.5 trillion in 2017, a 1.4 per cent increase from 2016, according to Gartner, with the growth rate down from the previous quarter’s forecast of 2.7 per cent due in part to the rising US dollar.

“The strong US dollar has cut $67 billion out of our 2017 IT spending forecast,” said John-David Lovelock, research vice-president at Gartner. “We expect these currency headwinds to be a drag on earnings of US-based multinational IT vendors through 2017.”

The data centre system segment is expected to grow 0.3 pe rcent in 2017. While this is up from negative growth in 2016, the segment is experiencing a slowdown in the server market. “We are seeing a

$67b wiped off 2017 IT spending forecast thanks to rising dollar

shift in who is buying servers and who they are buying them from,” said Lovelock. “Enterprises are moving away from buying servers from the traditional vendors and instead renting server power in the cloud from companies such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. This has created a reduction in spending on servers which is impacting the overall data centre system segment.”

Driven by strength in mobile phone sales and smaller improvements in sales of printers, PCs and tablets, worldwide spending on devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles and mobile phones) is projected to grow 1.7 per cent in 2017, to reach $645 billion. This is up from negative 2.6 per cent growth in 2016.

Mobile phone growth in 2017 will be driven by increased average selling prices for phones in emerging Asia-Pacific and China, together with iPhone replacements and the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. The tablet market continues to decline significantly, as replacement cycles remain extended and both sales and ownership of desktop PCs and laptops are negative throughout the forecast. Through 2017, business Windows 10 upgrades should provide underlying growth, although increased component costs will see PC prices increase.