According to the latest research from the Strategy Analytics Connected Home Devices service, manufacturers sold 49.3 million digital TV receivers worldwide in 2004, a 50 percent increase on the previous year and an all-time record. Revenue growth was even higher, at 70 percent, because of the growing importance of higher value integrated digital TVs. Global demand will continue to soar in 2005 and beyond as new services are launched and the user base expands. New digital terrestrial television and IPTV services will be key drivers of device sales over the next five years. Strategy Analytics predicts that 2005 sales of digital TV receivers (set-top boxes and integrated digital TVs) will grow a further 38 percent to reach 68.2 million units. By 2010 annual sales will have reached 181.3 million units, worth $39.1 billion in retail revenues. Because of the strength of its integrated digital TV market, North America will account for 65 percent of revenues in 2010. Asia-Pacific will account for 19 percent and Europe 14 percent.
Enterprise AI budgets are flowing in two directions at once, and only one of them builds an asset the buyer actually controls. Gartner's latest forecast puts worldwide AI spending at $2.7 trillion in 2026, but the composition of that figure matters far more than the total. Executives who read only the headline will miss the tension between what they are buying and what they actually own. The Number Behind the Number Gartner projects 2026 AI spending is a 49.5 percent increase over 2025, with $3.6 trillion forecast for 2027. AI infrastructure accounts for $1.5 trillion of this year's total, more than half. Gartner's John-David Lovelock calls the data center buildout the largest infrastructure project humanity has undertaken, and describes demand as inelastic even as memory prices climb. Compute Concentration is a Sovereignty Issue Gartner expects hyperscalers and service providers buying AI-optimized servers to remain the largest single area of spending. For an enterprise, t...