IT market to develop rapidly

IT market to develop rapidly

SINGAPORE (AFP): The information technology (IT) market in Southeast Asia's booming economies is expected to grow at a blistering 26.3 percent over the next four years, according to an independent study released here yesterday.

The surge in IT demand in ASEAN will be partly due to computerization drives by government agencies, financial institutions and stock exchanges, according to the study by US- based research firm International Data Corp.

Other factors fueling the IT boom include high economic growth and strong support from governments, according to the study covering the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand but the study, released at an IDC computer industry briefing in Singapore on Wednesday, did not include Brunei, an official of the company's Singapore office said.

The annual briefing was for IT professionals.

Davis Blair, Asia Pacific vice-president of International Data Corp. said at the briefing that although the projected growth in ASEAN came second to South Korea's 29.4 percent, the region was important for the IT industry because of its rapidly growing market.

Blair said that Japan made up 71.7 percent of Asia-Pacific's IT market worth US$94.1 billion in 1994.

South Korea comprised 23 percent of the rest of the Asia- Pacific's market which also included ASEAN's 21.3 percent, Australia/New Zealand's 34.4 percent and 21.4 percent for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Blair said that by 1999, Japan's IT market was expected to grow by only eight percent and Greater China by 23.5 percent.

On personal computers, ASEAN accounted for 20.7 percent of the total market value of $8.86 billion for the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan last year.