Structural transformation of the global IT market and its development forecast for 2027–2031
The article examines the structural transformation of the global information technology market in the context of deepening the digitalization of the economy and expanding demand for data processing infrastructure. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the IT market is increasingly acting not only as an independent sector of the global economy, but also as a basic mechanism for technological modernization, ensuring the development of digital platforms, cloud services, artificial intelligence and corporate information systems. The purpose of the study is to identify key areas of change in the structure of the global IT market and to forecast its development for 2027-2031. The information base was compiled by the Gartner analytical agency on the volume of the global IT market in 2017-2026. by main segments: data processing systems, software, devices, IT services, and communication services. The methodological basis of the study is formed by structural and dynamic analysis, calculation of average annual growth rates, assessment of changes in segment shares and trend extrapolation based on a second-order polynomial trend line. As a result of the study, it was found that the development of the global IT market is accompanied by a transition from a model focused primarily on access infrastructure and user devices to a model based on data processing, software platforms, cloud solutions and professional IT services. According to the results of trend forecasting, the total volume of the global IT market by 2031 may reach about 9.68 trillion US dollars. It is concluded that in the medium term, the main growth factors of the global IT market will be software, IT services and data processing systems that form the technological basis of the data economy and artificial intelligence.