Data Bytes: AI Still an Enterprise Priority, Even as Growth Slows for COVID-19

Investment in artificial intelligence (AI) has remained strong during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the pace of growth moderating only slightly during 2020 and picking up in 2021 and beyond, according to new research from International Data Corporation (IDC). Global revenues for AI software, hardware, and services are expected to total $156.5 billion in 2020, an increase of 12.3% over 2019. "The pandemic has interrupted the momentum of AI services market growth in nearly all regions," said Jennifer Hamel, research manager, Analytics and Intelligent Automation Services. "However, enterprise demand for AI capabilities to support business resiliency and augment human productivity will sustain double-digit expansion in 2020 even as other discretionary projects experience delays." IDC expects AI hardware (server and storage combined) revenues to reach $13.4 billion in 2020, representing 10.3% year-over-year growth, which is a significant moderation from the prior year when it grew 33.4%.