SINGAPORE, November 22, 2016 – According to the new IDC Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) IT Spending Guide 2016-2020 , IDC forecasts Asia Pacific (AP) technology spending in the manufacturing sector in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) region will reach over US$ 36 billion by 2020, or a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.34% from 2016 to 2020.

"High levels of industrial automation and the push for increased operational efficiencies has resulted in technology investments that aid in mitigating productivity-related challenges", says Sampath Kumar Venkataswamy, Research Manager, IDC Manufacturing Insights.

"Systems integration and consolidation remains one of the top investment areas for most manufacturing organizations that are on the path of implementing smart manufacturing platforms. The push to increase visibility on the shop floor and across the value chain will continue to drive the corresponding technology investment efforts in applications such as CRM, SCM and predictive analytics," added Venkataswamy.

APeJ IT spending in manufacturing is dominated by the high tech equipment sector, followed by chemical and the automotive industry. From a technology perspective, the spending on IT services is expected to reach over US$ 14 billion by 2020 while software related spending is expected to grow 6.91% CAGR for the same period and reach over US$ 12 billion. Software spending includes engineering applications, operations management and supply chain management software. However, IDC expects lower growth for hardware related spending and is expected to reach only US$ 9.4 billion by 2020.

"The China manufacturing industry IT spending market will grow at a steady pace. This is driven by the initiative of digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises, which requires the manufacturers to shift more emphasis on IT applications. The increasing adoption of 3rd Platform technologies (cloud, Big Data, social, and mobility) is unlocking the potential of traditional IT applications. The deployment of innovation accelerators (IoT, 3D printing, and robotics), coupled with the integration with operations technologies (OT) will drive a revolution across manufacturing operations, as companies seek to gain the advantages of Industry 4.0 and Made in China 2025," says Yves Wang, Senior Research Manager, IDC Manufacturing Insights, China.

Manufacturing related initiatives specifically in China, India and the ASEAN countries will lead to increase in technology spend to as much as US$ 29 billion by 2020, or which accounts to nearly 80% of the APeJ IT spend.

The Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) IT Spending Guide 2016-2020 measures investments on systems integration, IT outsourcing, application development/deployment, ERM, networking equipment and security at Asia Pacific level across fourteen countries and thirteen key industries.

IDC Asia/Pacific also provides information on country specific manufacturing priorities, which can be found in the following IDC reports: IDC Manufacturing Insights — Country Profile Series: ASEAN FY16 (IDC #AP40345815), IT Priorities and Strategies — India (IDC# AP41856916) and Accelerating Implementation of Industry 4.0 in China (IDC #CHE41569016).