Drivers and sensitivities
01 / DRIVERS- Large young populations and growing engineering talent pools
- Digital public infrastructure and e-government
- Outsourcing and nearshoring of services
- Data centre and cloud build-out
- Global technology capital spending
- Interest rates, which affect growth valuations
- Currency, since services are often exported in dollars
- Talent cost and availability
Editorial summary. Qualitative drivers are general industry context written by Invest Global, last reviewed 2026-10-08. They are not forecasts. Figures elsewhere on this page are sourced and dated.
Key risks
02 / RISKS- Export controls on advanced technology
- Data localisation and platform regulation
- Talent emigration
- Power and connectivity constraints
- Valuation volatility
Investing in frontier and emerging markets carries significant risk, including total loss. This list is illustrative and not exhaustive.
Value chain
03 / STAGES- Research and design
- Hardware and component manufacturing
- Software and platform development
- IT services and outsourcing
- Distribution and end-user adoption
Top exposed countries
04 / 173 SCOREDRanked by exposure score, a weighted percentile of sourced indicators. Select Sources on any row to see each input, its period, source and as-of date.
| # | Country | Score | Band | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 |  Israel | 97 | High | ICT services are 64.6% of service exports; ICT goods are 17.7% of merchandise exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 02 |  Ireland | 92 | High | ICT services are 65.5% of service exports; high-technology goods are 53.5% of manufactured exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 03 |  China | 89 | High | ICT services are 19.1% of service exports; ICT goods are 21.3% of merchandise exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 04 |  South Korea | 89 | High | ICT goods are 28.3% of merchandise exports; high-technology goods are 36.3% of manufactured exports (2024). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 05 |  Czechia | 86 | High | ICT services are 18.2% of service exports; ICT goods are 16.2% of merchandise exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 06 |  Estonia | 86 | High | ICT services are 25.2% of service exports; ICT goods are 8.4% of merchandise exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 07 |  Sweden | 86 | High | ICT services are 20.8% of service exports; ICT goods are 4.9% of merchandise exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 08 |  Malaysia | 83 | High | ICT goods are 35.2% of merchandise exports; high-technology goods are 58.6% of manufactured exports (2024). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 09 |  Vietnam | 83 | High | ICT goods are 35.9% of merchandise exports; high-technology goods are 44.3% of manufactured exports (2023). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 10 |  India | 82 | High | ICT services are 48.6% of service exports; ICT goods are 5.7% of merchandise exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 11 |  Singapore | 82 | High | High-technology goods are 59.4% of manufactured exports; ICT goods are 34.6% of merchandise exports (2024). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
| 12 |  Austria | 81 | High | ICT services are 12.9% of service exports; high-technology goods are 18.5% of manufactured exports (2024, 2025). Economy-wide FDI restrictiveness (OECD, 0 open to 1 closed): |
Exposure scores describe how large and relevant a sector is in a country's economy and opportunity set relative to other countries. They are not a measure of attractiveness, expected return or risk. Educational content only, not investment advice.
Largest markets by scale
05 / 161 RANKEDExposure scores show relative weight. This ranking shows absolute size on one sourced measure: ict exports (goods and services). ICT service exports share times commercial service exports, plus ICT goods share times merchandise exports (World Bank).
| # | Country | ICT exports (goods and services) | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | China | 2024 | |
| 02 |  Hong Kong | 2024 | |
| 03 | Ireland | 2024 | |
| 04 |  United States of America | 2024 | |
| 05 | South Korea | 2024 | |
| 06 | India | 2024 | |
| 07 | Singapore | 2024 | |
| 08 |  Germany | 2024 | |
| 09 | Malaysia | 2024 | |
| 10 |  Netherlands | 2024 | |
| 11 |  Mexico | 2024 | |
| 12 |  United Kingdom | 2024 |
Derived from the cited sources as described above. A larger economy ranks higher on absolute measures even when the sector is a smaller share of its output.
Top listed companies
06 / PLAYERSLargest listed companies tagged to this sector in the Invest Global capital markets dataset, ranked by market capitalisation in US dollars. Coverage is the markets in that dataset, so it is not a global census.
| # | Company | Country | Market cap | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | NVIDIA NVDA | United States of America | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 02 | Apple AAPL | United States of America | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 03 | Alphabet (Google) GOOG | United States of America | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 04 | Microsoft MSFT | United States of America | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 05 | TSMC 2330 |  Taiwan | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 06 | SpaceX SPCX | United States of America | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 07 | Meta Platforms (Facebook) META | United States of America | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 08 | Broadcom AVGO | United States of America | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 09 | SK Hynix 000660 | South Korea | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 10 | ASML ASML | Netherlands | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 11 | CXMT 688825 | China | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 12 | Tencent 0700 | China | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 13 | Arm Holdings ARM | United Kingdom | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 14 | Alibaba BABA | China | Invest Global sector tag | |
| 15 | MediaTek 2454 | Taiwan | Invest Global sector tag |
Not recommendations. A list of the largest companies is not a list of suggested investments. Sector tags marked Invest Global are an editorial classification of each company's main business. Market capitalisation is a snapshot, not a live quote.
Regulatory considerations
07 / REGULATION- Data protection and cross-border data transfer rules
- Foreign ownership limits in some digital sectors
- Technology transfer and localisation requirements
- Tax incentives for software exporters
The OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index scores 105 economies from 0 (open) to 1 (closed). The median is , with a range of 0.00 to 0.74. The table above notes the score under each top market where it is covered. Sector-specific restrictions vary and are set out in the OECD regulatory database.
Regulatory summaries are general and change often. Confirm current rules with local counsel. Not legal advice.
Typical entry routes
08 / ACCESS- Listed technology firms and global technology funds
- Semiconductor and software sector funds
- Venture and growth equity, for qualified investors
- Outsourcing and shared-service centre investment
- State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETFSELECT SECTOR SPDR TRUST
- Vanguard Information Technology Index FundVANGUARD WORLD FUND
- VanEck Semiconductor ETFVanEck ETF Trust
Examples, not recommendations. Each fund is confirmed in the SEC series and class file. These are US-listed funds whose holdings are mostly developed-market issuers; check each prospectus for current holdings, fees and domicile. No prices, yields or fees are shown because none are verified here.
Sourced charts
09 / DATACharts show historical data from the cited sources. Past levels do not indicate future results. Commodity series are World Bank nominal US dollar monthly benchmarks.
Method and sources
10 / FORMULAEach score is a weighted average of percentile ranks. For every indicator, a country's latest observation (not older than 2014) is ranked against all other countries with data (mid-rank percentile, 0 to 1). Where a lower raw value signals more headroom (for example electricity access), the rank is inverted. The weighted average of the available percentiles is scaled to 0 to 100. A cell is published only if indicators holding at least 60 percent of the weight are available; otherwise the country is omitted for that sector.
| Indicator | Weight | Direction | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICT service exports | 30% | Scale (higher raw value scores higher) | World Bank, World Development Indicators |
| ICT goods exports | 25% | Scale (higher raw value scores higher) | World Bank, World Development Indicators |
| High-technology exports | 25% | Scale (higher raw value scores higher) | World Bank, World Development Indicators |
| Research and development expenditure | 20% | Scale (higher raw value scores higher) | World Bank, World Development Indicators |
The score describes how large and relevant a sector is in a country's economy and opportunity set, relative to other countries. It is not a measure of attractiveness, return or risk, and it is not investment advice.
- World Bank, World Development Indicators CC BY 4.0
- U.S. SEC, Investment Company Series and Class Information U.S. Government work, public domain
- companiesmarketcap.com (via the Invest Global capital markets dataset) Third-party data carried over from the existing Invest Global capital markets dataset; reuse licence to be confirmed
- OECD FDI Regulatory Restrictiveness Index CC BY 4.0 (OECD content published from 1 July 2024)
Data version 2026-10-09. Every datapoint carries its source and as-of date; hover or tap a dotted value to see them.