America's info-tech industry saw combined revenue of US$747 billion last year, up about 8 percent from the year before, according to a report issued Friday by the Information Technology Industry Council.
"This growth reflects a highly competitive, dynamic, and influential sector of the US economy," ITIC president Rhett Dawson said in a statement. "These numbers are even more astounding when one considers that in 1960, the first year we began compiling such data, total IT industry worldwide revenue, in 1997 dollars, was only $15.28 billion."
Between 1986 and 1995, the report said, worldwide revenue for the US info-tech industry grew by about 7.6 percent a year. This rate is expected to last over the next 10 years, with revenues reaching about $1.6 trillion by 2007. The figures apply to sales of computer gear and software, plus business equipment and telecommunications hardware.
Other fun facts in the report include employment last year by the info-tech industry (almost 3 million, up 6.5 percent), industry R&D expenditures ($31 billion, up 3.8 percent), and price changes for general-purpose computers (down 23 percent).
ITI represents leading US providers of information technology products and services. The group says its members account for 55 percent of US info-tech industry revenues and employment. Figures for other nations were not included in the report.
