IT Infrastructure in Brazil

Essay by mggkUniversity, Master's March 2007

download word file, 3 pages 4.0

Downloaded 55 times

Hardware manufacturing and Assembly in BrazilIT hardware is one of Brazil’s fastest growing sectors. Along with Mexico, Brazil is the only Latin American country with substantial IT hardware production. However, Brazil produces mostly for the internal market and is also a heavy importer. Computer hardware production in Brazil initially slumped after liberalization in 1991, as imports replaced domestically produced hardware. However, production grew rapidly from 1992 through 1996 as foreign and domestic producers expanded to serve the growing local market. Brazil saw an increase in PC production in 1999 thanks to investments in production facilities by two major vendors, Dell and Gateway. Dell began producing computers in 1999 in a $75 million plant in Rio Grande del Sul. Gateway entered the market in 1999 through its 23% investment in local PC maker Vitech. Most computer production in Brazil is done in Campinas, a city near São Paulo, which is the home to the production facilities of Compaq, IBM and Vitech, as well as other electronics companies such as Lucent, Philips and Motorola.

Smaller production clusters are found in the Manaus free-trade zone in the Amazon region, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul. Dell also plans to build a new hardware factory in São Paulo state by end of year 2006.

Software development in BrazilBrazil is the largest packaged software market in Latin America and accounts for 36% of the Latin American software market. According to a study published by Observatório Digital, Brazilian software export tripled in three years, rising from US$ 100 million in 2002, to US$ 314 million in 2004. Together, the 30 largest companies in the sector in Brazil exported the equivalent to US$ 307 million last year, which answers to 97% of the total. The industry is concentrated in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo,