IT spend in Europe is projected to total $1,28-trillion in 2025 – an increase of 8,7% from 2024 – according to the latest forecast by Gartner which adds that spend in the region is on pace to reach $1,18-trillion by the end of 2024.
“In 2024, the surge of building out AI-related infrastructure by technology providers is driving high levels of spending on data centre systems in Europe,” says John-David Lovelock, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner. “CIOs in Europe will continue investing in public cloud end user spending which is estimated to reach $123-billion in 2024, and grow their security spending – projected to reach $47-billion in 2024.”
European businesses that have recognised IT’s value during the pandemic are set to significantly boost IT spending in 2025 to stay competitive and grow revenue. Aided by a surging interest for generative AI (GenAI) solutions, CIOs in Europe will drive their IT budgets into an era of high growth and innovation. 2025 is poised to set a record as the highest growth rate in IT spending in a single year in Europe since the post-pandemic surge in 2021.
Europe IT Spending Forecast (Millions of US Dollars)
|
|
2024 Spending |
2024 Growth (%) |
2025 Spending |
2025 Growth (%) |
| Data Centre Systems | 50,043 | 11.1 | 54,410 | 8.7 |
| Devices | 134,239 | 6.4 | 146,700 | 9.3 |
| Software | 254,554 | 11.4 | 288,163 | 13.2 |
| IT Services | 448,572 | 6.6 | 489,767 | 9.2 |
| Communications Services | 292,280 | 3.0 | 302,705 | 3.6 |
| Overall IT | 1,179,687 | 6.8 | 1,281,744 | 8.7 |
Source: Gartner (November 2024)
“The limited success of many pilots and proofs of concept (POCs) in 2024 will push European organisations to shift from building their own GenAI solutions to buying and implementing partner solutions in 2025,” says Lovelock.
Gartner estimates spending on IT services related to AI in Europe will grow from $78-billion in 2024 to $94-billion in 2025.
Data centre trends in Europe
End user spending on servers in Europe is estimated to grow 25% in 2024 due to increased demand for AI-optimised servers. Spending on servers will continue to grow in 2025, but at a slower pace (11%).
“Europe has seen a remarkable 46% increase in server spending by technology providers in 2024,” says Lovelock. “In 2025, technology companies will continue building out the infrastructure needed for training GenAI models today and inferencing them in the future.”
Gartner’s IT spending forecast methodology relies heavily on rigorous analysis of the sales by over 1 000 vendors across the entire range of IT products and services. Gartner uses primary research techniques, complemented by secondary research sources, to build a comprehensive database of market size data on which to base its forecast.