The size of Turkey’s information and communication technologies sector reached 784.6 billion Turkish liras in 2023, marking an increase of 83% compared to the previous year in terms of Turkish lira. This announcement was made during a press conference for the “Information and Communication Technologies Sector 2023 Market Data and Trends 2023 Report,” prepared with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Technology by the Information Industry Association (TÜBİSAD) in collaboration with Deloitte.
The conference was attended by Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Zekeriya Çoştu, TÜBİSAD President Mehmet Ali Tombalak, Emre Hantaloğlu, General Manager of Lenovo Turkey, Murat Boyla, CEO of Data Market, Burak Ertaş, CEO of sahibinden.com, and Hakan Göl, Partner at Deloitte Turkey, along with many other industry representatives.
According to the report shared by Deloitte Turkey Partner Göl, 10,424 companies participated in the study.
The report revealed that the size of Turkey’s information and communication market reached 784.6 billion Turkish liras in 2023, showing an 83% increase compared to the previous year. New companies contributed 36 billion liras to this figure.
From 2019 to 2023, the sector’s annual average growth rate in Turkish lira terms was around 50%. The sector’s size in dollar terms also increased by 27% to reach 33 billion dollars. During the same period, the global ICT market grew by 1.1%.
Looking at the two main components of the total sector size, it was observed that information technologies, which grew faster from 2019 to 2023, surpassed communication technologies in terms of market size in 2023.
While information technologies grew by 60% during the period, reaching 402.2 billion Turkish liras in 2023, communication technologies also grew by 41% to reach 382.4 billion Turkish liras. Despite the exchange rate fluctuations, information technologies continued to grow, while communication technologies shrank due to currency effects. The size of information technologies in dollar terms reached 16.9 billion dollars in 2023, while communication technologies reached 16.1 billion dollars.
Within information technologies, the “Hardware” category grew by 68% to 133 billion, the “Software” category by 132% to 206.9 billion, and the “Service” category by 96% to 62.2 billion Turkish liras.
In communication technologies, the size of the “Electronic Communication” category increased by 72% to 224.5 billion, and the size of the “Hardware” category increased by 93% to 157.8 billion Turkish liras.
The sector’s total employment reached 237,000, an increase of 11%. It was observed that 31% of the sector was composed of female employees, with 63% of the workforce being university graduates.
According to the report, in 2023, the global information and communication market reached a size of 4.45 trillion dollars. The prominent technologies in the information and communication technologies sector in 2023 were evaluated under four main headings: “AI in Productive Business Life,” “Cloud Transformation,” “Platform Engineering,” and “Sectoral Metaverse.” “Sustainability in Business” was included as an ongoing trend.
While the global information and communication market increased by 1.1% last year, the information technology market contracted by the same rate. The communication technology market saw a 4.1% increase in size.
Based on statistics published by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, it was observed that the number of technoparks increased by 4.1% to 101 and the number of companies increased by 14.5% to 10,275 in 2022-2023. The number of people employed in technology development zones reached approximately 108,360 with a 16.3% increase. The total turnover of technoparks increased by 174.5% from 75.6 billion Turkish liras to 207.5 billion Turkish liras. Total exports increased by 138.7% from 19.9 billion liras to 47.5 billion liras.
Total exports increased by 85% to 58 billion Turkish liras in 2023. The largest share of total exports came from the “Software” category in information technologies, which grew by 92% to 52 billion Turkish liras. The sector’s total exports increased by an average of 22% annually in dollar terms from 2018 to 2022.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Technology Zekeriya Çoştu, speaking at the conference, emphasized the importance of the report and stated that the information and communication technologies sector had been a developing sector for a long time. Considering Turkey’s digitalization and advancements in this sector, he noted that the sector had developed a deep and evolving ecosystem over the past 20 years.
Çoştu emphasized that the information sector is at the heart of the National Technology Move and stated that the growth, diversification, deepening, and increased export potential of the sector are crucial priorities for the country. He expressed satisfaction with the progress made by the sector, the capabilities of the companies, the skills of the human resources, and the ability to conduct business beyond borders. However, he also stressed that Turkey aims for much more ambitious goals.
He stated that Turkey has all the necessary instruments for this, and the Turkish information ecosystem has the potential to become a global phenomenon.
Çoştu emphasized that the future of the sector is very bright and stated, “As the Ministry, along with other public institutions and NGOs, we provide the necessary support for the development of the sector and will continue to do so. The resources we provided to companies operating in the information and communication technologies sector in 2023 exceeded 40 billion Turkish liras. This figure may double in 2024.”
TÜBİSAD President Mehmet Ali Tombalak stated that the technology sector is a priority and shaping the future sector, emphasizing that all parties need to work together for its development. He stated that there is good news in the Information and Communication Technologies Sector Market Data 2023 Report, pointing out that for the first time, information technologies have surpassed communication technologies in terms of market size. He also highlighted the growth in software exports and expressed that this was a significant development.
source: aa.com.tr/ prepared by Melisa Beğiç