People visit a booth of the CMC Group offering Information Technology (IT) solutions for small-and-medium sized enterprises in Ha Noi. Viet Nam's IT sector has seen strong growth in recent years despite challenges posed by the economic downturn. — VNA/VNS Photo The Anh

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam's Information Technology (IT) sector earned US$37 billion in revenues in 2013, up 48 per cent year on year, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has estimated.

Of the figure, revenue from software accounted for $3 billion with hardware revenues accounting for the rest of the total, according to director of MIC's IT industry department Nguyen Trong Duong.

He said most hardware revenues had come from the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) sector driven by players like Samsung, LG, Intel. Korean tech giant Samsung earned $23.9 billion from exports in 2013.

"FDI technology firms are now dominating local firms in IT production and the story of "made in Viet Nam" products is not as successful as we expected," said Duong at an industry seminar in Ha Noi on Wednesday.

However, according to Duong, Viet Nam's IT sector saw strong growth during recent years despite challenges posed by the economic downturn. The sector earned $25.5 billion in 2012, up 86.3 per cent over 2011, after recording a mere $7.6 billion in 2010.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications, Viet Nam remained among the top 30 leading countries in the world and in the top 10 in the Asia-Pacific for offshore services.

Meanwhile, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reported the country's ICT Development Index in 2013 had risen five places from 86th to 81th, ranking 4th in Southeast Asia and 12th among 27 countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Even last year, the Tholons Inc Consultancy continued to place HCM City and Ha Noi among the top 100 outsourcing destinations in the world.

HCM City was ranked 16th while Ha Noi was ranked 23rd for software outsourcing, according to the NewYork based advisory firm. — VNS