IDC’s latest figures project a significant surge in edge computing expenditure in the coming years, particularly driven by the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI).
The integration of AI applications into edge infrastructure is identified as the key catalyst for this anticipated growth. As a result, IDC forecasts that spending on edge computing could skyrocket to $350 billion by 2027, exceeding previous estimates.
Edge computing is set for a spending boom
Dave McCarthy, IDC’s research vice president for Cloud and Edge Services, emphasized the critical role of edge computing in the deployment of AI: “To meet scalability and performance requirements, organizations will need to adopt the distributed approach to architecture that edge computing provides.”
The projected growth in edge computing expenditure is based on an analysis of 500 enterprise use cases spanning 19 industries and six domains.
According to current trends, key segments such as multi-access edge computing (MEC), content delivery networks, and virtual network functions are expected to comprise approximately 22% of total edge spending this year.
Marcus Torchia, IDC’s research vice president for Data & Analytics, noted a shift in enterprise investments towards infrastructure expansion and greenfield deployments over the past 24 months. Torchia highlighted companies’ actions to build more robust local computing infrastructure capabilities.
IDC anticipates significant compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) ranging from low to mid-teens for the 19 industries surveyed, with a particularly robust 19.1% CAGR forecasted for the service provider segment.
Looking ahead, IDC predicts a focus on emerging edge use cases such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and autonomous operations.
The report also highlights the geographic distribution of investments, with North America, Western Europe, and China expected to be key drivers of edge computing spending. North America alone is projected to contribute around 40% of total spending, although growth is anticipated in regions like Africa and the Middle East.