The landscape of IT in France makes the country a good opportunity for foreign IT companies to invest.

• In the hardware sector, the lack of domestic manufaturer calls for foreign companies to locate production to serve the French market and neighboring countries. The quality of the workforce, the size of the market and the presence of a good infrastructure facilitates operations of hardware production. However, the French market is already close to saturation, since it is hosting a number of large US companies (IBM, Compaq, HP...).

• As for the software design, foreign companies can install their local production in France if they need to adapt software content to the French language and culture. They will benefit from highly qualified web-designers and a dynamic environment in such cities as Paris. However, foreign companies will face strong competition from French software firms, that perform well in systems integration and application development, and have the advantage of knowing their market.

• The telecom market is booming in France, and it still represents strong opportunities with the deregulation of the local loop and the development of high speed connections. Many telecom companies, especially European companies (Nokia and Ericsson for the equipment, Telecom Italia, etc.) are competing on the French market, and France Telecom still holds a strong market share inherited from its monopolistic position. Yet there are certainly opportunities to invest, in long-distance phone services for example or cable Internet access.

• For such investments as call centers or software programs on a global scale, France does not provide competitive advantage compared to other countries that have english-speaking and cheap labor force.