IT spending by Asia-Pacific manufacturing companies to grow at 11.4% a year

Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) manufacturing IT market (consisting of both discrete and process manufacturing sub-industries) was valued at $13.7 bln in 2004 and is expected to grow steadily at a CAGR of 11.4% to reach $21 bln by 2008. According to IDC, the discrete manufacturing segment accounted for 78.6% at the end of 2004, while the process manufacturing segment made up the rest of the $13.7 bln manufacturing IT spending pie in the APEJ region. Many manufacturers in the APEJ region continue to invest in IT to gain operational efficiencies to better contain rising business costs due to stiffer competition and complexities introduced by globalization and liberalization of markets.