IDC recently released the 2023 V1 edition of its Worldwide Security Spending Guide. This guide reviews the 2022 global cybersecurity market across multiple dimensions—including technology, vertical industries, and enterprise size—and provides forecasts for future market trends. IDC predicts that by 2026, China will achieve the highest cybersecurity spending growth rate globally.
Amid rapid global digitalization, the adoption of technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, and 5G continues to expand. While enterprises leverage these innovations to boost efficiency, they also face escalating cyber threats introduced by these very technologies. As a result, the global cybersecurity landscape is becoming increasingly complex, driving organizations to steadily increase their cybersecurity investments. According to the data, total worldwide cybersecurity investment reached $195.51 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $297.91 billion by 2026, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 11.9%.
Focusing on the Chinese market, some end users reduced their cybersecurity spending due to the lingering impacts of the pandemic and geopolitical factors. Consequently, IDC has revised downward its near-term growth forecast for China’s cybersecurity market size. Nevertheless, the fundamental drivers of China’s cybersecurity market remain unchanged: demand for robust cybersecurity infrastructure continues to rise. Once pandemic-related disruptions fully subside, China’s cybersecurity market is expected to resume high-speed growth. IDC’s latest data shows that China’s cybersecurity spending is projected to reach nearly $28.86 billion by 2026, with a five-year CAGR of 18.8%—the fastest growth rate worldwide.
According to IDC’s classification, the hardware segment primarily comprises markets for security content management, unified threat management (UTM), and intrusion detection and prevention systems. Among these, unified threat management will dominate cybersecurity hardware spending, accounting for more than 60% of total hardware expenditures. IDC forecasts that China’s UTM market spending will exceed $6 billion by 2026.
IDC defines the software segment as consisting mainly of information and data security software, identity and digital trust software, and endpoint security software. Of these, the information and data security software market is expected to become the largest and fastest-growing sub-segment within the overall software category.
The security services market, as defined by IDC, includes four major components: security consulting, security integration, security education and training, and managed security services. Security consulting remains the largest sub-market by spending. However, IDC predicts that end-user expenditure on managed security services will continue to rise significantly. From 2021 to 2026, managed security services are expected to achieve a CAGR of 26.0%, indicating strong market potential.
From an end-user perspective, government, financial services, and telecommunications remain the top three spending sectors in cybersecurity, collectively accounting for nearly 60% of total market expenditure. Meanwhile, manufacturing and professional services are also accelerating their cybersecurity investments, with five-year CAGRs exceeding the industry average. Driven by the expansion of the digital economy, national security imperatives, and growing emphasis on personal data privacy, organizations across all sectors must implement commensurate cybersecurity measures to ensure that digital transformation progresses both faster and more securely.
