Y2K Tech Spending

About Y2K Tech Spending

In the years before January 1, 2000, companies and governments worldwide spent an estimated 300 to 600 billion dollars upgrading computer systems to avoid the Y2K bug. The spending boom boosted technology companies and contributed to the dot com bubble. When midnight struck on January 1, 2000, relatively few problems occurred, leading some to call Y2K a hoax. However, the lack of incidents was largely due to the massive remediation effort. After Y2K, technology spending plummeted, contributing to the 2001 recession and dot com crash. The episode showed how preventive spending can be invisible when it succeeds.