US corporations are expected to increase computer-equipment budgets this year, according to recent reports from two research bodies, with the manufacturing and banking sectors spending the most.
"We remain optimistic about the opportunities for IT [information technology] vendors," Anne Lu, a senior analyst at International Data Corp (IDC), said in a statement released yesterday.
"As the global economy improves and buyers return their focus to increasing profits through revenue growth, big-ticket IT purchases will gradually start to reappear," Lu said.
US companies are expected to spend US$391 billion on IT this year, IDC said, with banking and manufacturing expected to account for one-third of the total.
Rival researcher Gartner Inc said last Friday that IT spending would increase, based on a weekly poll of 25,000 budget decisionmakers in US corporations.
Poll responses indicate "strong growth in IT demand this year in organizations of all sizes," Gartner said in a statement.
Sales of mobile devices such as cellphones and notebook computers for corporate users are expected to increase most, it added.
Increased spending on mobile products is good news for Taiwanese manufacturers, who dominate the notebook sector and are grabbing more of the handset market.
Last year, the nation shipped 16.8 million notebook computers, a 21 percent increase on the previous year, according to figures released yesterday by the semi-official Market Intelligence Center (MIC, 市場情報中心).
MIC predicts the figure will rise one-third to 24 million this year, meaning that Taiwan-made notebooks will be bought by two out of every three notebook purchasers.
Last year, the nation shipped 42.8 million handsets, a 50 percent increase from 2002, MIC figures show. This represents 10 percent of the global market.
MIC predicts the figure will rise 30 percent to 55.5 million this year.
Spending growth in other areas would be fueled by the need to upgrade existing software programs, Gartner said.
"More than half of [Germany-based software company] SAP's nearly 20,000 customers were faced with the termination of standard application support by the end of 2003, or an option to extend support through 2004 for an additional 2 percent in maintenance fees," said David Hankin, senior vice president and general manager at Gartner.
"PeopleSoft Inc [of the US] is auditing J.D. Edwards customers and exerting pressure on enterprises to purchase new licenses based on PeopleSoft's licensing model," he said.
US government spending on new communications networks for new e-government and domestic security projects, and new regulations on healthcare, accounting and banking, would also push up tech sales, IDC said.
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