India could be Japan’s tech saviour as demand rockets

In my brief to cover the science and technology space in Asia for The Reg – yeah, pretty busy at the moment, thanks for asking – India is fast becoming a fertile source for stories.

It can be spoken of in the same breath as China in many ways in that they are both burgeoning nations with huge populations, a growing middle class and aspirations to lead the world in their own ways in the production and consumption of technology.

So it was no surprise when I read Gartner’s latest stats indicating Indian consumption of semiconductors is set to grow faster than any country this year – up by 20 per cent from 2011 to reach a whopping $9.2bn in revenue.

Compared to a global average of just four per cent growth it’s clear the country is undergoing a rapid transition.

Gartner research director Ganesh Ramamoorthy told me that the growth is likely to be sustained for some time to come, driven by huge demand for mobile phones, PCs and LCD TVs in the country.

Due to the low penetration of such kit in India at the moment, the potential is there for CAGR of 16 per cent to 2016, he added.

All of which is good news for Asian companies in general, because while India may be consuming all those semiconductors, it doesn’t make them.

“I do see China based semiconductor companies benefiting a lot because a substantial amount of semiconductor requirements of local manufacturers in India is imported from China,” said Ramamoorthy.

“The strong, growing demand for overall electronic equipment in India benefits other companies as well such as LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba etc, from countries like Korea and Japan.”

Japanese tech firms in particular have had a tough time of it of late and are struggling in the shadow of China. Salvation comes from strange places sometimes.