North American software and IT services project numbers and investment are both increasing in Asia-Pacific.
Greenfield investment tracker fDi Markets has indicated that from 2013 to 2015, software and IT services has been the outstanding sector in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for 13.1% of inward FDI.
In this period, fDi Markets has recorded a year-on-year increase in North American FDI into Asia-Pacific for software and IT services. During 2013, the monitor recorded 270 projects, a figure which increased by 10% during 2014. The trend continued in 2015 with a further increase of 2.69%.
The increase in project numbers seen over this period in the software and IT services sector is in contrast to overall FDI tracked from North America to Asia-Pacific. In the latter case, project numbers fell from 1129 in 2013 to 1057 in 2015 (a decrease of 6.37%).
Total capital investment from North America into Asia-Pacific also fell during the period. In 2013, it was valued at $51.59bn, decreasing to $49.85bn in 2015. However, the software and IT services sector performed strongly, with capital investment from North America to Asia-Pacific at $3.99bn in 2013. This increased by 19.13% in 2014, with a further 2.13% increase in 2015.
Although capital investment and individual project numbers have trended upwards in the software and IT service sector since 2013, job creation fell back during 2014, when the number of jobs created dropped by 8.34% from its 2013 level of 28,224. However, job creation recovered in 2015 with an increase of 25.07%. This substantial increase means that, despite the decrease in 2014, total jobs created in the period actually increased by 14.64%. If this sector continues to keep up its momentum, this bodes well for overall investment figures between North America and Asia-Pacific.
Source: James Whitten - fdiIntelligence
