Summary: The
country now ranks seventh in tech investment worldwide, says IDC.
By Angelica Mari for Brazil Tech
Investments in hardware, software and services
in Brazil have seen a better-than-expected 15.4 percent uplift in 2013 in
relation to the previous year, according to an annual report on sector
performance by IDC.
The growth achieved last year equals an
investment total of $61.6bn and surpassed the 14.5 percent rate for
The research also suggests that Brazil
accounts for 47.4 percent of the IT market in Latin America, despite having
lower economic growth than Argentina, Peru, Venezuela and Chile in 2013. The
total investment in IT in 2013 means Brazil retains a 3 percent slice of the
global market.
"The 15.4 percent growth in IT
investments exceeded the most optimistic expectations, driven primarily by
growth in sales of new mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. The
software and services industry grew 10.1 percent, impacted by the appreciation
of the dollar against the real," says the president at ABES, Jorge
Sukarie.
About $10.7bn were generated by the software
sector alone, while services represent a $14.4bn chunk of the total amount
invested in IT in Brazil during 2013, according to the IDC study.
Regarding the acquisition of software for
sectors of the economy, the finance sector was the main buyer, with 26.3
percent of the total investment, followed by telecommunications with 24.4
percent and manufacturing with 20.2 percent.
According to the research, the Brazilian
market for software and services is made up of micro and small enterprises,
accounting for 43.9 percent and 49.6 percent of the sector, respectively.
Mid-sized businesses account for 5.2 percent of the market, while large
businesses account for only 1.3 percent of all companies active in the sector.