The IT market, which for years was the pride of the Ukrainian economy, is now losing ground. Exports of IT services in January 2025 fell to $489 million — minus $19 million compared to the same period in 2024. This is the worst start to the year since the start of the full-scale war.
The IT market, which for years was the pride of the Ukrainian economy, is now losing ground. Exports of IT services in January 2025 fell to $489 million — minus $19 million compared to the same period in 2024. This is the worst start to the year since the start of the full-scale war.
If in 2017–2019 Ukrainian IT showed 14,7% growth each year, then only slowdown. Pandemic, full-scale invasion, economic turbulence. The number of companies decreased by a quarter in 2022, and has not yet recovered to the level of 2021.
According to Sociopolis, almost half of experts say the market is stagnating. The reasons are military risks, reduced orders, and frozen projects.
Even with uninterrupted communication, relocation and backup offices, Ukrainian companies are losing contracts. 58% of companies have faced contract termination, and a quarter have lost more than 40% of their revenue. Most clients are not willing to take risks — they are interested in stability.
The IT world is in a fever. Tech giants are cutting hiring, layoffs are happening in every major office. More than 600,000 people have been laid off since 2022. This means that the same orders that once went to Ukraine are now being given to internal teams.
Indian developers are also awake. Their IT sector recruits specialists from villages, trains them, and enters the market with a price tag three times lower.
In outsourcing, live interaction with clients is important, so the ban on leaving the country has affected the attraction of new clients and the retention of existing ones. Vlad Voskresensky, co-founder and CEO of Revenue Grid, noted in 2023 that the inability to meet and gather a team complicates strategic planning.
«It’s impossible to get people together for a few days to plan. This is a problem for the economy, and it will grow,» he noted .
Since then, the situation has worsened: more than three years without face-to-face meetings have led to a loss of clients.
The Ukrainian IT market has finally become an employer’s market. Declining demand, fewer orders, high risks — all this has hit salaries. Experts are sounding the alarm: 68,2% are sure that salaries will not grow. And more than half — that the decline will continue for another 1–3 years after the end of the war.
«77% of IT professionals do not expect any salary increase in 2025,» — Yaryna Voznyak, Lviv IT Cluster.
Company experts confirm: there have been no raises since 2022. Some have had their salaries «frozen,» while others have had their salaries cut to market levels.
Even the most optimistic market players don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel — at least not until the country returns to stability.
