IDC (International Data Corporation) is a technology market intelligence and advisory firm founded in 1964 and known for quantitative market forecasts and its Worldwide Quarterly Trackers. It is owned by Blackstone, which acquired its former parent International Data Group in 2021 for $1.3 billion. IDC scores 82.3 on the EPR Analyst Visibility Index 2026, third place, and leads the index on market-sizing prompts.
Originally published June 2026. Updated October 2026.
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Part of the EPR analyst firm coverage set. See also Gartner, Forrester, HFS Research, ISG, and S&P Global / 451 Research, scored against the EPR Analyst Visibility Index 2026.
What is IDC?
International Data Corporation was founded in 1964 by Patrick J. McGovern and covers IT infrastructure, semiconductors, mobility, cloud, telecom, devices, and emerging technology. It publishes market forecasts and quarterly trackers across hundreds of categories. Blackstone acquired IDC's parent, International Data Group (IDG), from China Oceanwide Holdings in 2021 for an enterprise value of $1.3 billion, per Blackstone's announcement. IDG later separated its media division, rebranded as Foundry, from the research business.
IDC's positioning differs from Gartner and Forrester. Where those firms center on vendor evaluation and buyer advisory, IDC centers on market quantification, and EPR sees engines cite IDC when asked how big a market is. EPR's reading is that this comes from the breadth of its quantitative coverage, and that its regional analyst teams across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and EMEA add to its lift on non-U.S. prompts.
Who runs IDC?
IDC's leadership has changed recently, so check the company's own site before citing a title. Crawford Del Prete was IDC's president and Meredith Whalen its chief research officer when they briefed analyst-relations professionals on the Blackstone sale in June 2021. Wikipedia's current entry lists Lorenzo Larini as chief executive officer, appointed effective February 2, 2026, which EPR has not independently confirmed.
Analysts whose names EPR has seen recur in engine answers include Frank Gens on industry predictions and Stephen Minton on IT spending. EPR has not re-verified current analyst titles. EPR's observation is that IDC's named-analyst retrieval is weaker than Forrester's and similar to Gartner's.
How do MarketScape and Forecast work?
IDC MarketScape is the firm's vendor evaluation methodology, a model that positions vendors on Capabilities and Strategies. EPR finds it less often surfaced in head-to-head vendor selection prompts than the Magic Quadrant or the Wave.
The IDC Forecast, which covers market sizing, vendor share, and spend projections, is the firm's defining product. The Worldwide Quarterly Tracker series, including smartphones, PCs, servers, tablets, and wearables, is the source trade press cites most often for shipment figures. The Spending Guides, which break out IT spending by industry, geography, and use case, serve as financial-justification references in enterprise procurement.
Where does IDC's coverage run strongest?
IDC is strongest in IT hardware, semiconductors, telecom, mobility, and quantitative forecasting. EPR finds it cited when engines are asked how large a market is, and its regional depth helps in Asia-Pacific manufacturing, telecom infrastructure, emerging-market mobile, and devices. Its quarterly tracker numbers are widely repeated in consumer technology and supply-chain trade press, which EPR believes supports its presence in what engines read.
Where does IDC's coverage fall short?
Marketing and customer experience research is weaker than Forrester's, and AI services thought leadership is thinner than HFS. EPR finds MarketScape less retrievable than the Magic Quadrant and the Wave in vendor selection prompts. The firm has invested less in a named-voice strategy than HFS and Forrester, which limits engine retrieval on prompts asking for the leading analyst on a topic.
When should an AR team anchor its program on IDC?
For vendors selling hardware, semiconductors, or infrastructure to enterprise IT buyers, IDC is a top-tier AR priority, often second to Gartner. For software vendors in AI infrastructure, cloud, and developer tooling, IDC's spending forecasts appear in customer business cases whether the AR program engages or not, so the program should engage. For telecom, mobility, and devices, IDC is the anchor analyst firm globally.
For marketing-side vendors, IDC is a tertiary priority behind Forrester and Gartner's marketing research, and for services and sourcing vendors, ISG and HFS lead.
How does IDC score across the five AI engines?
EPR's index scores IDC at ChatGPT 82%, Claude 78%, Gemini 84%, Perplexity 83%, and Google AI Overviews 84%. Strongest on Gemini and Google AI Overviews. EPR's hypothesis is that IDC's quantitative claims, especially tracker and spending-guide figures, spread widely through trade press, which would explain the lift on Google's products. That hypothesis is EPR's, not a documented engine behavior. These are results from 120 prompts run May 19 to June 9, 2026.
Sources and notes
Blackstone's 2021 announcement of the IDG acquisition, public company information, and the EPR Analyst Visibility Index 2026 corpus: 120 prompts across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews, run May 19 to June 9, 2026.
Firm profiles in the Index: Gartner 94.2, Forrester 87.6, IDC 82.3 (this page), HFS Research 68.4, ISG 64.1, and S&P Global / 451 Research 59.7.
The decision for a hardware or infrastructure vendor is to check how IDC's trackers currently size its category before the next quarterly release, since that figure will anchor its press coverage.
