Back with a Vengeance, Thailand is ASEAN’s Rising Star in IT Spending, reports IDC

Kuala Lumpur, May 14, 2012 – In 2012, Thailand will overtake Singapore once again to regain the number-two spot for IT spending in Southeast Asia after falling behind the lion city in the last two years. Despite the current gloomy global economy and the recent flood crisis that brought the nation’s business activities to a standstill, consumers and enterprises alike are spending big money on technology. From 2012-2016, IDC projects that IT spending in Thailand will leapfrog ahead of Singapore, growing at a compound annual rate (CAGR) of 10.8%.

According to IDC’s latest IT spending forecast, the total IT spending for Southeast Asia will reach US$54.7 billion by 2012. Asia’s new economic giant, Indonesia, will continue to lead the pack. Thailand is expected spend US$11.0 billion on IT while Singapore is forecasted to spend US$10.6 billion.

IDC attributes the growth of IT spending in Thailand to two key areas: the public's insatiable appetite for smartphones and the continual growth of the IT services market in the nation. IDC expects 2012 to continue on this strong growth path and the IT spending market is expected to reach US$16.6 billion by 2016.

Thailand has been one of the fastest-growing smartphone markets in Southeast Asia, with 76% year-on-year (YOY) revenue growth in 2011, reaching over US$1.5 billion. "Thailand will be one of the region's rising smartphone stars in 2012, as tech-savvy consumers continue to snap up iPhones at the high-end while international and domestic brands alike drive greater mass adoption by pushing smartphone prices below the US$150 mark," says Melissa Chau, Research Manager, Client Devices at IDC Asia/Pacific.

While IDC’s 2012-2015 outlook for the IT services industry in the region continues to be bright, Thailand's consumption of IT services is expected to outstrip the rest of the region during this period and this can be attributed to a dependence on external services providers that can allow for faster reactions to market demands over in-house resources. The major growth sectors for IT services are implementation services, operations management and support services.

Chris Morris, Associate Vice President at IDC Asia/Pacific, says “The demand for IT services in Thailand is driven mainly by investment in facilities for manufacturing exports and a fast-growing consumer sector. With a small skills base to draw from, Thai companies and MNCs have become reliant on externally-sourced IT services to deploy and manage their IT infrastructure and applications.”

For more information about IDC’s research, please contact Sheryl Fuertez at +65-6829-7758 or sfuertez@idc.com.