Bolstered by the rapid development of e-commerce in Southeast Asia, aggregate tech procurements to be conducted in 2018 by the six regional countries - Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam - are expected to surge 18.6% from an estimate of US$70 billion for 2017, with the purchases mostly on hardware devices, according to US-based Forrester Research.
Aggressively pursuing the goal of becoming a smart nation, Singapore is now the largest tech market in Southeast Asia, as it is investing heavily in expanding network coverage while also planning to use robots and automation solutions to boost production efficiency. The country is also seeking outsourced software and consultancy services providers to support the implementation of the plan.
As the second-largest tech market in the region, Indonesia has relaxed its regulatory restrictions to solicit more investments in the e-commerce sector, and has helped develop some tech startups into unicorns. Consumers in the country are now very keen on using mobile devices for online shopping, while telecom operators and consumer electronics retailers are also enjoying significant sales growth, inspiring them to invest more in infrastructures and hardware equipment, the Forrester indicated.
Digital transformation has also become an issue highly concerned by enterprises in Southeast Asia in recent two years. A research report released by IDC's Indonesia branch showed that 74% of Indonesian enterprises share the view that digital transformation will be their core strategy in the future, indicating their brisk demand for cloud data processing services.
Google's cloud datacenters in Singapore
Meanwhile, Google has set up two datacenters in Singapore and has also invested US$30 billion in building an undersea cable system to serve Google traffic between Australia and Asia, connecting Perth, Sydney and Singapore, with a branch to Jakarta, to further boost cloud service quality. This has indicated that global tech giants' optimism about the market demand for cloud data services.
Forrester estimates that cloud-related expenditures will account for 20% of Asia-Pacific software expenses in 2018, and that the region's revenues from cloud services will surge 22% in the year. In terms of hardware demand in the region, PCs will show an annual growth of 10% in the coming year, follow by a 3% rise for servers and 1% increase for peripherals.
In terms of consumer electronics, smartphones will remain the hottest devices with consumers, with China vendors such as Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo likely to stand as the most popular brands.
A survey conducted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council showed that of the 1,400 respondents to its surveys in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam - each with a monthly income of over US$1,000 - 43% said the electronic devices they want to buy the most are smartphones, followed by 28% for tablets, 13% for household entertainment systems, 7% for cameras, and 3% for wearable devices.
