Small and medium sized manufacturers in the Asia-Pacific region will increase spending on IT to $23.5bn this year, research firm AMI-Partners predicts. 

Manufacturers are raising their IT spending to keep a lid on increased operating costs created by greater competition and the challenges of more open global markets, the US-based research company's analysts believe.

About 41 per cent of that spending will be in China which, along with other key emerging markets like India, Thailand and Indonesia, is showing faster growth in SME IT spending.

China's SME manufacturers are expected to expand their share of regional IT spending to almost half this year.

"These are the tiger economies in South East Asia, characterised by the growing importance of their manufacturing industry, producing labour intensive to medium skill products, the decline in importance of agriculture and a growing services sector," said Jackie Chan, a senior analyst at AMI-Partners.

"The manufacturing industry today faces a wide variety of challenges, and these companies are attempting to improve their profitability, reduce complexity and gain better business insight in order to stay on top."