In 2010, Vietnam, India and Indonesia will be the three markets to witness the highest information technology (IT) and telecommunications growth rates in Asia. In 2010, Vietnam, India and Indonesia will be the three markets to witness the highest information technology (IT) and telecommunications growth rates in Asia, according to IDC market survey firm.

Thai businesses seek opportunities in Vietnam

According to the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications, in 2000-2009, Vietnam’s IT industry reached high growth rates of 20-25 percent per annum, though it slowed down in 2008-2009 to 18-19 percent, due to the global economic crisis.

According to the General Statistics Office, the IT industry always has the growth rate higher by 2-3 times than that of the GDP. The revenue of the hardware industry reached $4.68 billion in 2009, an 8-fold increase over 2000. Meanwhile the revenue of the software industry reached $880 million in 2009, much higher than $580 million in 2000.

The rapidly growing IT market has attracted $5.7 billion worth of foreign direct investment into hardware production projects. As for software industry, AT Kearney and Gartner market survey firms believe that Vietnam is one of the countries with most attractive software outsourcing industry in the world.

Japanese partners returning

According to Pham Tan Cong, Deputy Chair of the Vietnam Software Association (Vinasa), 2008-2009 was a very difficult period for Japanese IT industry which has the annual revenue of 130 billion dollar. The IT industry saw the revenue decreasing continuously in the last seven quarters, thus having big impacts on Vietnamese enterprises – the partners who do the software outsourcing for Japan.

FPT Group is a typical example. The group, whose 56 percent of total revenue came from Japan, fell into difficulties when Japanese partners reduced the number of software outsourcing orders.

However, as the global economy has been recovering , Japanese firms are returning and seeking cooperation with Vietnamese partners. Vietnam remains the third biggest partner in the field of software outsourcing, right after India and China.

Cong said that since the beginning of the year, Japanese enterprises have had a lot of meetings with Vietnamese enterprises to seek partners and new business opportunities. “Japanese IT firms now consider Vietnamese enterprises as reliable partners. Therefore, there will be many opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises once Japanese IT industry recovers,” Cong said.

Tadashi Higashino, Deputy President of NEC Group, also said his group is returning to Vietnam after two years of cutting down outsourcing orders with Vietnamese partners. “Japan’s economy is recovering and we have got new contracts. NEC still wants to seek Vietnamese partners, because Vietnam has good workforce which can meet our high requirements,” Mr Higashino said.

NEC now has a branch in Vietnam where 150 software engineers are working. NEC is seeking Vietnamese partners to develop cloud computing and it has expressed its wish to join Government’s projects, such as e-Government project.

The new faces

Besides Japan, Vietnam’s market is witnessing the appearance of new names, such as the enterprises from Taiwan, Thailand and Myanmar.

Taiwan External Trade Development Council (Taitra) has chosen Vietnam, after India and Indonesia, as the place for advertising its IT strong brands.

Tso Wei-Dar, Chief Representative of Taitra in Vietnam, said Taiwanese IT firms are trying to cooperate with Vietnamese retailers, such as Phong Vu, Hoan Long, Microstar and Silicom, in order to create a network specializing in distributing Taiwanese IT products in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, 16 Thai software firms, including big names like Adasoft, AI Soft, Arunawad Dot Com and Comance International, Computer Telephony Asia, Dynamic IT SP and IT Works, arrived in HCM City in mid August to seek business opportunities.

Thai Software Export Promotion Association (TSEP) is planning to boost Thai software products in 2010 by helping its member companies to penetrate overseas markets, especially Vietnam. TSEP said Thai software firms will focus on two big cities in Vietnam, namely Hanoi and HCM City. The main client that they will target in Hanoi is the Government, while the main clients in HCM City are private businesses.

Source: Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon