Worldwide ICT spending, including new technologies, is expected to exceed $5.6 trillion in 2021, with growth accelerating through the end of the forecast period as new categories account for a growing proportion of overall investments, according to IDC.
By 2021, new “3rd Platform” technologies—including IoT solutions, robots and drones, AR/VR headsets and 3D printers—will account for 23% of total ICT spending. Overall, 3rd Platform investments, including what IDC calls “the four pillars of cloud, mobile, big data and analytics and social”, will make up more than 70% of worldwide ICT spending.
The fastest-growing technology markets last year were AR/VR, cognitive and artificial intelligence, 3D printing and robotics. Meanwhile, IoT has already grown to account for 15% of ICT spending, including new operational technology software and services, which represent expanding opportunity and potential disruption for traditional vendors. While the adoption of 3rd Platform technologies is broadly positive across all countries, there are key geographic differences in terms of early adoption and short-term opportunities.
China accounted for 28% of worldwide IoT spending in 2017 and 29% of total robotics investments, compared to just 12% of traditional ICT spending categories (hardware, software, services and telecom). Japan and some other Asia/Pacific countries are also early adopters of robotics and IoT. Cognitive AI investments are dominated by US businesses, who are also leading the way in AR/VR prototypes. Emerging markets, such as India and Brazil, are major contributors to overall mobility spending but are still playing catch up when it comes to cloud.
