Worldwide information technology spending will grow by a record 6.2 percent this year, hitting $3.7 trillion, according to a new estimate from Gartner Inc.

The prediction, which came via the analyst firm’s latest forecast on IT spending, is for the highest annual growth rate it has predicted since it began tracking the market in 2007.

This anticipated growth will be welcome news to big technology suppliers, but Gartner still warned that the declining value of the U.S. dollar could have an impact on its forecast.

“This is the highest annual growth rate that Gartner has forecast since 2007 and would be a sign of a new cycle of IT growth,” said John-David Lovelock, a research vice president at Gartner. “However, spending on IT around the world is growing at expected levels and is in line with expected global economic growth. Through 2018 and 2019, the U.S. dollar is expected to trend stronger while enduring tremendous volatility due to the uncertain political environment, the North American Free Trade Agreement renegotiation and the potential for trade wars.”

Nonetheless, Gartner is taking an optimistic view at present, saying the enterprise software market in particular will be all smiles this year thanks to anticipated 11.1 percent spending growth. The software industry is “expected to continue capitalizing on the evolution of digital business,” Gartner said in its report.

This growth will be fueled by spending on both application and infrastructure software, Gartner said, as enterprises continue to modernize legacy IT systems and implement new technologies such as the “internet of things.”

Software’s growth will come at the expense of spending on data center equipment, however. Gartner says that though Data Center Systems spending will grow, it will only do so by 3.7 percent, down from 6.3 percent in 2017. The worst-performing segment in this market will likely be storage products, which could suffer from high demand for components such as memory chips and central processing unit chips outstripping supply.

Other markets, including IT services, communications services and devices will all see faster growth, however. The first two markets will see spending growth of 7.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, totaling more than a trillion dollars each. Meanwhile, the device market will see revenue hit $706 billion, up 6.6 percent from the year before.

“The device market continues to see dual dynamics,” Lovelock said. “Some users are holding back from buying, and those that are buying are doing so, on average, at higher price points.”

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