The digital association forecasts a 3.8 percent increase in revenue for the digital industry to €203.4 billion in 2023. The number of employees is expected to rise by a similar 3.4 percent to 1.352 million. Bitkom speaks of a “structural skilled labor problem” of 137,000 missing IT experts.
"Digitalization is the answer to the multiple crises of our time. Digitalization makes an economy more resilient, it helps with global challenges such as climate protection, and it makes people's lives easier, in healthcare as well as in education and mobility,"
says Bitkom President Achim Berg.
"We must strengthen digitalization in business, administration, and society, and we should do more than just push it forward. We need a true digital policy shift."
Digital sector: IT is growing fastest
The strongest growth is expected in the information technology sub-sector. According to current forecasts, IT revenues will reach €126.4 billion in 2023, corresponding to an increase of 6.3 percent. According to Bitkom, software revenues will grow the most, up 9.3 percent to €38.8 billion. The strongest driver here will be artificial intelligence. The hardware segment of the digital industry is expected to grow by 5.3 percent to €39.7 billion. In terms of hardware, the strongest growth is expected for wearables.
The telecommunications market, on the other hand, is expected to grow only slightly by 0.8 percent to €69.5 billion this year. Telecommunications infrastructure remains the largest revenue driver, with an increase of 2.5 percent to €7.7 billion. Terminal equipment is also forecast to generate 2.3 percent more revenue, reaching €12.1 billion. Berg says:
“Despite higher bandwidths, more data volumes, and increasing usage, revenues from telecommunications services can hardly be increased given the fierce price competition.”
The association even expects a decline in sales for the consumer electronics sector – for the third consecutive year. Expected revenues are 7.6 billion euros, down 7.3 percent.
“We have to make more effort in Germany”
In a global comparison, the figures for Germany look somewhat less rosy: Global IT and telecommunications revenues are expected to grow by 4.8 percent to €4.33 trillion in 2023. The USA continues to dominate the global market, accounting for 35.7 percent. China ranks second with a global market share of 11.7 percent, followed by Japan with 5.7 percent. Germany ranks fifth with a global market share of 4.2 percent, behind Great Britain with 4.5 percent. The EU countries excluding Germany account for a global market share of 11.8 percent.
"We must make more of an effort in Germany. The gap between us and the leading digital nations and the fast-growing countries is widening every year,"
says Berg.
“Underinvestment in IT and telecommunications makes it more difficult for all sectors to remain competitive and take a leading role in the innovation race.”
