While businesses and consumers tighten their belts everywhere else, IT appeared to be the beneficiary of a large spending spree in 2010, according to analyst firm IDC.
In fact, global tech spending reached $1.5 trillion during the year - experiencing its fastest rate of growth since 2007.
Overdue hardware upgrades and companies choosing to invest to help them grow post-recession, were cited as some of the reasons behind the healthy figures.
Spending on storage was up by 14 percent, while PCs and servers grew by 11 percent and nine percent respectively.
Software and services spend experienced a slightly slower pace of growth, with the former up by four per cent and the latter by two per cent. However, IDC predicts these figures will rise in 2011.
When telecom services are added to the equation, the ICT market grew by six per cent to almost $US3 trillion during the year, according to IDC's Worldwide Black Book.
"Like the global economy, the global IT industry performed better than expected in 2010," said Stephen Minton, vice president of IDC's IT markets and strategies group.
"With business profits and stock markets back into a cycle of growth, many organisations took the opportunity to make up for lost time by upgrading mission critical systems and infrastructure over the course of the year. While downside macroeconomic risks are still present, we entered 2011 on the back of a resounding rebound for the technology industry."
Overall, the IT market is predicted to grow by seven per cent this year, reaching $US1.65 trillion, according to IDC. Hardware spending growth will once again be in double digits.
"The global economy could still be a wild card," said Anna Toncheva, program manager and economist in IDC's IT markets and strategies group.
"The sovereign debt crisis in Europe may raise its head again, and we still lack sufficient visibility into many variables to be sure that a double-dip recession will not occur.
"However, the consensus opinion is currently that such a downturn is much less likely now than six months ago, and this continued economic stability will provide the foundation for another year of strong growth in the IT industry."
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