Software Industry Eyeing Revenues of US$1Bln in 2010

Software Industry Eyeing Revenues of US$1Bln in 2010

Vietnam’s annual software revenues may reach US$1 billion by 2010 if the country’s software industry can maintain its current annual growth of between 35 per cent and 40 per cent, said an industry expert.

“What the local software industry has to do now is to improve its work force, which is said to be weak in terms of both quality and quantity,” said Truong Gia Binh, Chairman of the Vietnam Software Association, adding that the country will need 200,000 software workers by 2010.

“There should be a mechanism to promote the development of information technology (IT) training schools and promote IT training in existing training institutions,” Binh said.

Although the local software industry is unlikely to make total revenues of US$500 million this year, as initially targeted, it has made two large steps forward: penetrating Japan, the second largest software market in the world, and attracting the attention of large software groups.

Last year, Vietnam reported total software revenues of US$160 million, up 35-40 per cent against the previous year. Of the total revenues, US$40 million came from exports.

The country now has 15,000 software workers working in 600 enterprises, most of which are of small and medium size.

B.T