Emerging regions will generate $1.22 trillion in IT spending in 2012, representing more than 31% of the worldwide total, according to Gartner. The consulting firm has also forecast that worldwide, IT spending will reach a total of $3.7 trillion this year, which is a 2.5% increase from 2011, but down from Gartner‘s previous forecast of 3.7% growth for 2012.
Gartner’s defines emerging markets as including regions of the Asia/Pacific (excluding the mature markets of Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan), Latin America, the Middle East and Africa (minus Israel), and Central and Eastern Europe.
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Luis Anavitarte, Gartner’s research VP and head of emerging markets research, noted that while professional and consumer market opportunities can be found in many emerging markets, Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico and China (BRIMC) continue to have a particularly strong performance, and these countries represent over half of the emerging market. About 17% of global IT spending will be generated by BRIMC in 2012, representing nearly $658 billion, and these markets remain far from saturated.
Regarding the global numbers, Gartner said the lower growth rate has more to do with the recent rise in the value of the U.S. dollar versus other currencies rather than an actual decline in spending.
The worldwide telecom equipment market is predicted to show the strongest growth with spending reaching $472 billion in 2012, a 6.9% increase from 2011. This positive trend is the result of the continued health of the mobile devices market as well as a more positive outlook for enterprise network equipment, which is being driven by spending on application acceleration equipment, network security, WLAN and Ethernet switches.
Emerging markets
From a regional perspective, Latin America is expected to generate nearly $326 billion in IT spending in 2012, of which professional markets will represent 48.4% of the total IT market, reaching $157.7 billion in 2012. Consumer markets in Latin America will grow to $168 billion in 2012.
IT spending in the Middle East and Africa is expected to reach $244 billion in 2012, with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Africa accounting for nearly 35% of this revenue, while Central and Eastern Europe are predicted to generate nearly $158 billion. Russia’s share of IT spending in the region in 2012 is expected for be nearly 45%, followed by Poland with 11.8%, the Czech Republic with 7.7% and Hungary with 3.7%.
Gartner forecasts that the Asia/Pacific countries will reach $496 billion in IT spending in 2012, with the professional markets representing 42% of total IT spending in the region.
