China’s IT Expense to Surpass Japan in 2013

As China gains more regional superiority and its economy keeps surging， China will achieve another key indicator: it will surpass Japan to become the largest consumer of IT products and services in Asia Pacific. The IDC’s latest IT forecast shows that China’s IT expense is gradually reaching Japan’s level; by 2013， China’s IT expense will total USD 173 billion， 4% more than that in the Japanese market. The IDC attributes China’s IT expense growth to two key factors: consumers’ increasing IT demands and the IT opportunities brought by the “12th Five-year Plan” proposed by the Chinese government.

“Individual consuming electronic products will become intelligent day by day and will expand into the medium- and small-sized cities. Consumption upgrading， intelligent home furnishing， intelligent cars as well as intelligent housing and property management will drive rapid growth in manufacturing， retail business and the service industry along the industrial chain， which will eventually stimulate staggering IT demands. Driven by the growth engine — intelligent terminal， the individual IT consumption market is expected to gain a 29.8% growth this year; such individual appliances as intelligent smart phones and tablet PCs will keep the momentum for rapid growth. End-users’ application demand will promote the development of the corporate-level IT market， and consumers’ use of mobile application and corporate individual consumers’ mobile application will drive the development of corporate-level hardware， software and integrated services，” said Wu Lianfeng， Assistant Vice President of IDC China.

“The major programs in the Chinese government’s 12th Five-year Plan have brought lots of IT opportunities. For instance， in order to enhance the overall informationization level of the society， the government will be in support of the steady and fast development of e-commerce. E-payment and online shopping will drive investments in infrastructure of the banking sector. Online shopping will not only stimulate investments from the professional e-commerce companies， but it will also spur investments in infrastructure in manufacturing， retail， tourism， finance and other sectors，” added Huo Jinjie， General Manager and Research Vice President in Great China of IDC China.

On the other hand， the national demands have constantly raised new requirements for the IT sector: the cloud scheme in the regional medical service sector will create tremendous demands; the intelligent cities or digital urban planning introduced by the municipal governments at all levels have become a major drive for the growth of the IT market， which have enabled the IT suppliers to increase resource input in order to expand their urban markets; breakthroughs have been made for the integration of the “three networks” (telecommunication network， Internet and television network); the digital business based on broadcasting network has begun to develop and intelligent television has been initiated. Some provinces and cities such as Jiangsu and Beijing have begun to establish charging system for this kind of services; the smart grid will stimulate IT investments. By the end of 2011， the first two batches of smart grid pilot projects have been accomplished and in 2012 the smart grid project will be implemented in a larger scope across the country， all of which will drive the development of the IT market; the Internet of things has entered a stage for rapid development， stimulating integration of information systems and growth in various IT products and promoting the fast development of embedded system and communication system markets; in the domain of energy saving and environmental preservation， IT has ushered in speedy development and the development of the Internet of things will promote upgrading of energy saving solutions featuring information and technologies.

Huo concluded that， “The growth in the total investments in the IT sector during the 12th Five-year Plan period will surpass that in the 11th Five-year Plan period. With the government’s support and consumers’ increasing demands for IT products and services， China will rise to become the largest IT consumer in Asia Pacific (including Japan) in 2013.”