Global AI revenues to reach $156 billion

Worldwide revenues for the Artificial Intelligence (AI) market, including software, hardware, and services, are expected to total $156.5 billion in 2020, a growth of 12.3 per cent over the previous year, according to a new forecast by International Data Corporation (IDC).

While this year's growth is somewhat slower than previous years due to the economic impact of Covid-19, investment in AI will recover quickly, said the IDC 'Worldwide Semiannual Artificial Intelligence Tracker'.

Worldwide AI market revenue revenues are likely to surpass $300 billion in 2024 with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.1 per cent.

Software is the largest AI technology group delivering roughly 80 per cent of all AI revenue. Most of the software revenue comes from AI applications - $120.4 billion in 2020 - with AI Software Platforms delivering the remainder. "AI applications continue to be at the forefront of digital transformation (DX) initiatives, driving both innovation and improvement to business operations," Ritu Jyoti, programme Vice President, Artificial Intelligence Research at IDC, said in a statement.

Customer relationship management (CRM) AI applications and enterprise relationship management (ERM) AI Applications are the two largest segments with 20 per cent and 17 per cent share of the AI applications market.

Other key segments include AI for content workflow and management applications, production applications, and collaborative applications. In terms of vendor share, Adobe had the top spot for AI-centric CRM applications while Microsoft was No.1 in AI non-centric CRM Applications.

Meanwhile, in ERM AI applications, Ceridian and Intuit take the top spots in AI-centric and AI non-centric types, respectively, IDC said. As for the rest of the AI applications market, IBM is in first position under AI-centric type while Microsoft occupies the top spot under AI non-centric type.

The second largest AI category is services, which IDC forecasts will reach $18.4 billion in 2020, an increase of 13 per cent year over year. Within the AI services market, AI IT services accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the category's revenue with AI Business Services delivering the rest.

The top five companies in terms of market share - IBM, Accenture, Deloitte, Infosys, and Cognizant -- captured roughly one third of the worldwide AI services market in 2019. IDC expects AI hardware (server and storage combined) revenues to reach $13.4 billion in 2020, representing 10.3 per cent year-over-year growth.

In terms of vendor share, the top three companies in AI Server are Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Inspur, IDC said. In the AI Storage market, Dell Technologies, NetApp and Hewlett Packard Enterprise hold the top three

positions, it added.