Sales 2006
Worldwide:	€ 2,036 bn
Europe:	€ 682 bn
USA:	€ 574 bn
Japan:	€ 287 bn
Others:	€ 493 bn

Growth markets for sales/production
 
China

• Mobile telecommunications offers an opportunity in outlying areas without cable connection
• Investment in expansion of infrastructure

Russia

• Once the credit crunch is over, high level of investment is expected in products from the IT and telecommunications sector
• Toll system planned for 6,000 km of motorways

India

• Backlog of demand for IT and telecommunications products
• IT sector suffering from a downturn in foreign contracts
• Mobile telecommunications offers an opportunity for outlying areas without cable connection
• Well educated personnel available
• High-spending population

Opportunities in established markets
 
USA

• Largest market for high-tech products
• Regarded as growth industry
• Population open to new technology 
  

Western Europe

• Third largest market for high-tech products
• Switzerland, Germany and Scandinavia are innovation leaders in IT and telecommunication products and their use
• Economic stimulus programmes promote expansion of broadband network

Japan

• Second largest market for high-tech products
• Expertise in high-quality technology
• Investment planned in broadband expansion, security, green IT etc.

Technology trends
The sector thrives on innovations. Product cycles are very short and investment in R&D is relatively high. Some examples of future-capable technology

• Green IT
• Further development of LED technology
• Innovations in semiconductors
• Trend towards multi-purpose communication devices
• Intelligent traffic management systems to reduce hold-ups
• Image processing  

Commercial trends

• Sector is having to contend with significant falls in product prices
• Shortage of skilled personnel in R&D
• Need to increase readiness to engage in international cooperation
• Consolidation both in software and hardware
• Higher degree of automation required for more cost-efficient production
• Information technology suffers from lower investment in the industry
• Telecommunications technology benefits from multi-purpose devices
• More than 3 billion mobile phones and 1 billion PCs worldwide

Sources: BITKOM, IBM, gtai