Mumbai:
China has started building the world''s largest software and IT service hub in
the city of Dalian in northeast China''s Liaoning province, posing another stiff
challenge to India''s booming software industry. Hong
Kong-based Shui On group and Dalian-based Yida group will invest a total of 15
billion yuan to develop the Dalian Tiandi software hub. China
plans to increase its software exports from Dalian almost eightfold to $3.5 billion
by 2012. In 2006, Dalian exported $450 million worth of software products and
IT services, accounting for almost one-third of the country''s software outsourcing
revenue. "Stretching
over 40 km, we''ll build Lushun South Road into not only China''s Silicon Valley,
but the world''s leading IT city with a first-class environment," mayor of
Dalian, Xia Deren said at the launch. The
project will take 7 to 10 years to complete, he said. The
software park, with a total floor area of 1.6 million sqm, has been leased out
to more than 340 tenants, including 32 fortune 500 companies. Phase
I of the project will mainly cater to the needs of Japanese and South Korean companies,
while its master planning will take into consideration target tenants like IBM
and Oracle, he said. Yida
is partnering firms like China''s IT giant Neosoft and Singapore-based Ascendas
for the phase II project. Intel,
the world''s largest computer chipmaker is setting up a $2.5 billion facility for
300mm wafer fabrication in Dalian, its first in Asia, while Satyam has set up
base in Dalian. HCL also has plans to open a centre in the city.
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