Design software developer Autodesk said its sales on the mainland are expected to rise by 30 per cent in the next three years on improving intellectual property right (IPR) protection and strong demand from architects and engineers.

Better IPR protection on the mainland with greater efforts of the government to fight piracy should fuel "tremendous" sales growth in software firms, Jack Gao, Autodesk's regional director for Greater China, told China Daily in an interview yesterday.

Gao said the mainland would become one of the first-tier markets of Autodesk in the near future with strong momentum in urbanization and manufacturing.

Asia-Pacific accounted for 23 per cent of Autodesk's US$823 million revenue for fiscal year 2003. Gao did not provide the figure for the mainland.

The California-based company plans to extend its network on the mainland by setting up a representative office in Chengdu in southwestern China's Sichuan Province next year, Gao said.

It is consolidating its mainland network, which comprises a wholly-owned firm in Shanghai and representative offices in Beijing and Guangzhou. It runs 87 offices in 32 countries and regions worldwide.

Autodesk launched its China Application Development Centre in Shanghai recently to exercise customization of its products in a "more cost-effective way", Gao said.

The company is working with China Unicom, the mainland's second-largest mobile telecommunications operator, on the launch of a wireless location service, he said.

The mainland's software market is still much smaller than in the United States and Japan, with spending on software accounting for less than 20 per cent of information technology expenditure, compared with 50 per cent for the latter two, Gao said.

He said he expects the mainland's software market to surge at least 20 per cent every year in the next few years.

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