Software exports play key role in digital economy

Software exporters took the spotlight in the Vietnamese digital economic picture in the first six months of this year, posting high export revenue.

In the first quarter of this year, FPT reported 32% rise in revenue from IT services abroad, with a 44.1% increase in the number of new contracts.

Thanks to its strong digital transformation trend, Japan became the largest market of the firm in the period, with an increase of 31.2% in revenue and 65.7% in contract number. This year, FPT aims for 1 billion USD in software exports.

Meanwhile, CMC Global said that in the first six months of this fiscal year, it enjoyed a year-on-year rise of 85% in revenue to 641 billion VND (27.11 million USD). The firm’s major markets include the Republic of Korea and countries in Asia-Pacific region.

Japan and Asia-Pacific countries remain promising markets for Vietnamese IT businesses. Currently, more than 500 Vietnamese firms are providing IT services to their Japanese partners, including large-scale ones such as Rkikeisoft, Luvina, Jujinet, VMO, and VTI.

Japan’s demand in IT outsourcing is estimated at more than 30 billion USD per year, of which Vietnam is supplying 6-7%. The market made great contributions to Vietnam’s 14 billion USD in total software and IT service revenue in 2022, with growth of 20-40%.

Nguyen Thi Thu Giang, Vice President and General Secretary of the Vietnam Software Association (VINASA), said that the market’s potential is great due to its human resources shortage and high demand in system repair and maintenance.

Currently, the global software and IT market has a value of over 1.8 trillion USD.

Nguyen Thien Nghia, Vice Director of the ICT Industry Department under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said Vietnam aims for at least 2 billion USD in revenue from software and IT services abroad this year.

Vietnam is providing attractive incentives to IT firms, including corporate income tax exemption and reduction. In its 2021 report, AT Kearney said that Vietnam was the sixth most attractive IT outsourcing market in the world after traditional ones of India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brazil.

VNA