INDIA SET FOR BIG GAIN IN ELECTRONICS OUTSOURCING

The world's electronics industry is poised to increase sharply the work it gives to outsourcing companies, with India taking a much bigger share of the total, even though it will remain well behind China.

According to a study by Technology Forecasters, a California-based consultancy, by 2010 more than a quarter of all the manufacturing output of the world's electronics industry will be done by specialist contractors operating most frequently in low-wage economies, up from less than a fifth two years ago.

Within this total outsourcing work, India is likely to be the big gainer, accounting for a projected 10 per cent of the total in 2010, up from 2 per cent in 2005.

China, which in the past 10 years has become the most important country for electronics manufacturing, will in 2010 account for 46 per cent of outsourcing work in this industry, down from 48 per cent two years ago.

Outsourcing has become the dominant manufacturing process in electronics production, an industry covering fields from computers to medical electronics, and with combined annual sales of about $2,000bn (�,500bn, £1,000bn)

About 10 specialist electronics outsourcers do most of the work on behalf of large electronics groups such as Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Nokia and Sony which sell to the final customer under their brand name but frequently do little of the physical manufacturing.

Specialist outsourcers include Hon Hai of Taiwan, Singapore-based Flextronics, Sanmina-SCI and Solectron of the US and Finland's Elcoteq.

A bigger role for the outsourcing companies would fit in with branded electronics businesses' desire to keep downward pressure on costs, according to Matt Chanoff, chief economist at Technology Forecasters.

The large increase in the work going to India is partly because electronics businesses are keen to increase sales in the country – demand is rising as India's economy expands – and because they are interested in exploring the potential of the country as a low-wage manufacturing base.

Umasankar Pingali, managing director in India of Arrow Electronics, a large US-based distributor of electronic parts, which supplies many outsourcing companies, said: “The electronics industry in India is going through a big period of expansion which is going well beyond the area of consumer goods. We are seeing all-round growth taking in fields such as automotive electronics and industrial equipment.”

According to the projections, annual output in India of electronics outsourcing groups is likely to rise to $38.8bn in 2010, compared with $5bn in 2005.

Technology Forecasters's study says total global electronics outsourced production is likely to expand to $377.7bn in 2010, from $208.9bn in 2005. The figures are expected to climb to 26 per cent of the total expected production of the electronics industry in 2010 of $1,451bn, up from 19.5 per cent of the total two years ago of $1,068bn

中印将是电子外包最大受益者

全球电子行业正准备大幅增加派给外包公司的工作量，其中印度会在总量中获得更大份额，但仍将远远落后于中国。

总部位于加利福尼亚的咨询企业技术预测公司(Technology Forecasters)的一项研究称，到2010年，全球电子行业的全部制造产值中，将有逾四分之一来自那些通常在低工资经济体运营的专业承包商。两年前，这一比例还不到五分之一。

在全部这些外包工作中，印度可能成为大赢家，到2010年，其所占份额预计将从2005年的2%升至10%。

而中国在该行业外包工作量中所占的比例，预计将由两年前的48%降至46%。过去10年，对电子制造业而言，中国已成为最为重要的国家。

在电子生产中，外包已成为占主流地位的制造过程。电子业囊括了从电脑到医用电子等各个领域，年销量总额约为2万亿美元。

全球大约有10家专业电子外包公司，为惠普(H-P)、思科(Cisco)、诺基亚(Nokia)和索尼(Sony)等大型电子集团从事大部分工作。这些大型电子集团以自己的品牌向最终消费者出售产品，但往往很少从事实际的制造工作。

专业外包商包括台湾的鸿海(Hon Hai)、新加坡的伟创力公司(Flextronics)、美国的Sanmina-SCI和旭创公司(Solectron)，以及芬兰的Elcoteq公司。

技术预测公司首席经济学家马特•查诺夫(Matt Chanoff)称，外包公司发挥越来越大的作用，符合品牌电子公司压低成本的愿望。

涌入印度的工作量之所以大幅上升，一定程度上是因为电子业务渴望提高在该国的销量——随着印度经济的扩张，该国的需求也在不断上升。与此同时，它们也有意开发该国作为低工资制造业基地的潜力。

艾睿电子(Arrow Electronics)驻印度的董事总经理乌姆桑卡尔•平加利(Umasankar Pingali)表示：“印度的电子业正在经历一个重要的扩张时期，已经远远超出了消费品的范畴。我们看到，汽车电子和工业设备等领域正在呈现全面增长。”艾睿电子是一家总部位于美国的大型电子零部件分销商，为许多外包公司供货。

据预计，到2010年，印度电子外包行业的年产值可能升至388亿美元，远远高于2005年的50亿美元。

技术预测公司的报告称，2010年，全球电子外包总产值可能从2005年的2089亿美元增至3777亿美元。两年前的全球电子业总产值为1.068万亿美元，2010年预计将达到1.451万亿美元，这就意味着外包产值在其中所占比例将从2005年的19.5%攀升至26%。