Data center spending to grow 6% in 2021 as enterprises rebound from cash flow restrictions

Data center infrastructure spending is expected to grow 6% globally next year as businesses rebound from cash flow restrictions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Gartner. 

The research firm released its latest data center infrastructure forecast Wednesday, projecting that end-user spending on global data center infrastructure products will reach $200 billion in 2021. 

Spending has declined more than 10% so far in 2020, as lockdowns from COVID-19 prevented around 60% of new facilities construction. Nonetheless, Gartner is optimistic about growth over the next few years. The firm still expects the data center market to grow year-over-year through 2024.

"The priority for most companies in 2020 is keeping the lights on, so data center growth is generally being pushed back until the market enters the recovery period," said Naveen Mishra , senior research director at Gartner. "Gartner expects larger enterprise data centers sites to hit pause temporarily and then resume expansion plans later this year or early next. However, hyperscalers will continue with their global expansion plans due to continued investments in public cloud."

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Data center spending has been spotty in 2020, with enterprises pulling back on infrastructure products and relying increasingly on public cloud providers. Gartner has been predicting a decrease in spending across all IT segments over the course of this year, with device purchases and data center systems suffering the steepest decline. 

Yet despite this enterprise spending uncertainty in data centers, technology vendors will increasingly be selling their wares to hyperscale cloud providers.

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