China is set to follow in the footsteps of India in becoming the next outsourcing haven for Japanese software developers, according to Hong Kong listing candidate Sinocom Software Group.
'China has a geographic and cultural advantage over India for Japan's outsourcing market,' Sinocom chairman and chief executive Wang Zhiqiang said.
'With favourable government policies and low costs, China will soon have one of the world's highest software export volumes.'
The Beijing-based outsourcing company, which plans to raise HK$100 million through an initial public offering early next month, provides software to information technology firms such as NEC Soft, Hitachi and Sun Microsystems.
Ministry of Information Industry studies show that China's software exports reached US$3.6 billion in 2002, up 380 per cent from $750 million in the previous year. It ranks No4 among software exporters, behind India, Ireland and Israel.
The nascent growth of China's outsourcing industry is backed by growing business and investment from overseas. Sinocom, for example, has seen more than 90 per cent of its contracts sourced from Japan, while clients NEC and NEC Soft invested in the firm in 1997 and 1998, respectively.
