Foreign Investor Guide
Reference: Presidency of the Republic of Turkey Investment office www.invest.gov.tr
INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
27.4 billion USD
- The total value of the Turkish information and communication technologies market in 2018.
%17
- Average growth rate of the Turkish information and communication technologies sector in the last 5 years.
2.000+
- Number of companies active in the Turkish information and communication technologies sector.
139.000+
- Number of employees in the Turkish information and communication technologies sector. (70% under the age of 35)
%98,7
- Rate of owning a mobile phone / smartphone in Turkey. (19th in the world)
1.000+
- Number of R&D centers in Turkey.
58.000+
- Number of people working in R&D centers in Turkey
Turkey's information and communication technologies (ICT) sector has become a significant part of the economy, with exports exceeding USD 1 billion to the EU, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Asia and North America regions. More than 75% of Turkey's exports in the information and communication technologies sector, which includes software, hardware, equipment and service categories, are carried out with the EU, the region to which the country exports the most.
Employment in the sector, which is estimated to have attracted approximately USD 16 billion of international direct investment since the beginning of the 2000s, exceeded 139,000. Today, more than 20% of the employment in the ICT sector consists of R&D personnel, while approximately 70% of those working in the sector are under the age of 35.
Turkey's talent pool is supported by a growing number of graduates of engineering and ICT departments at universities. In 2018 alone, these departments had more than 52,000 graduates. Qualified labor and affordable labor costs continue to make Turkey a highly competitive country in the region.
While the ICT sector is considered a priority sector by Turkey, various initiatives have been taken to encourage investments in this field. The biggest indicator of these efforts is the R&D Law, which was put into practice in 2008 and determines the R&D areas that were revised and supported in 2016 and brought an incentive package. This package includes many incentives such as corporate tax exemption, VAT exemption, social security premium support.
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