A scramble to invest in artificial intelligence and a natural replacement cycle for computing devices purchased during the COVID pandemic will lead to an 8% increase in global IT spending this year, Gartner predicted. Interest in AI, building since last year, will push a 10% increase in data center system spending this year, driving worldwide IT spending to $5.06 trillion, said John-David Lovelock, distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner. “No company got out of 2023 without having a story about how much better their company was going to be, how much better their products were going to …