Worldwide IT spending is set to rise by 3.8% year-on-year to $1.47 trillion in 2010 as the global economy continues to recover from recession, according to statistics published by market analyst IDC.

By sector, IDC forecasts that hardware spending will lead the way, rising by approximately 6.4% compared with 2009, while spending on software will follow with a 3.5% increase. By contrast, IT services will demonstrate a comparatively modest upturn at 1.5%.

The market watcher predicts that much of this spending will be driven by demand in such emerging markets as China and India, where export-driven economic growth will fuel technological investments, as will economic stimulus packages by the US government. However, IDC believes that the Greek debt crisis and short-term doubt over the stability
of the European Union will hamper spending in Western Europe.

“Some of this is down to easy comparisons with the same period a year ago, but it also reflects very real pent-up demand for infrastructure spending, including investment in solutions such as virtualisation and information management,” said Stephen Minton, vice president of worldwide IT markets and strategies at IDC.

“Just as capital spending on hardware is the first thing to fall in a recession, it’s also the first thing to come back up for air when IT budgets are surfacing above water.”