IDC predicts that the global AI system expenditure will reach $154 billion in 2023.

IDC’s "Global Artificial Intelligence Expenditure Guide" makes the latest prediction that the global AI expenditure, including the expenditure on software, hardware and services of various AI-centered systems, will reach US$ 154 billion in 2023, an increase of 26.9% compared with 2022, and it is estimated that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will be 27.0% from 2022 to 2026. By 2026, the total expenditure of AI-centric systems will exceed $300 billion.

Mike Glenn, senior market research analyst of IDC customer insight and analysis team, said, "No matter what the scale, as long as AI technology cannot be adopted quickly, enterprises will gradually fall behind in the market. AI can make great contributions to enhancing human capabilities, automatically performing repetitive tasks, providing personalized advice, and making data-driven decisions quickly and accurately. AI technology suppliers need to accurately predict and grasp business opportunities, which requires data support. IDC’s AI spending guide comprehensively covers the marketing strategies of various AI opportunities, which can provide a basis for publicity work and point out the market focus that is suitable for the company’s capabilities. "

In the next five years, only one of the 36 AI use cases identified by IDC will have a compound annual growth rate of less than 24% during the forecast period.

In terms of expenditure, the three major AI use cases all focus on sales and customer service functions: enhanced customer service agent, sales process recommendation and enhancement, and project consultant and recommendation system. These three use cases have strong investment attraction for all industries, which will account for more than a quarter of all AI expenditures in 2023. Within this year, other high-spending use cases will support more diverse operational tasks, including IT optimization, threat intelligence and prevention system enhancement, and fraud analysis and investigation.

During the forecast period, the two industries that invest the most in the AI field are banking and retail. The next hot direction of AI expenditure is professional services, followed by discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing. This year, these five directions will account for more than half of the system expenditure centered on AI. The biggest increase in AI expenditure comes from the media industry, with a five-year compound growth rate of 30.2%. And similar to the system use case expenditure, it is predicted that only two industries have a compound annual growth rate of AI expenditure below 25%.

Xueqing Zhang, senior market analyst of IDC China Enterprise Research Department, believes that "AI technology will continue to bring empowerment effects to users and industries. With the support of pre-training large model and multi-modal technology, AI capability will be applied to the whole production process on a large scale. In the future, whether it is a government-level urban problem or a life problem closely related to everyone, it will experience the process of AI technology from concept to application, and enjoy a wave of dividends brought by AI. "

From a regional perspective, the United States will become the largest market for AI-centric systems, accounting for more than 50% of the global total AI expenditure during the whole forecast period. Western Europe will account for more than 20% of global IT expenditure, with a five-year compound growth rate of 30.0%, with the largest growth rate in the forecast period. China is the third largest AI market, with a compound annual growth rate of 20.6%.