Taiwan’s market share in advanced industries relative to its size is more than double the world average, driven almost solely by its dominance in computers and electronics, a report issued on Wednesday by a Washington-based research institute showed.
The report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation measured the performance of 10 leading economies across seven key sectors in the years 1995, 2006 and 2018.
The sectors included pharmaceuticals; medicinal, chemical and botanical products; electrical equipment; machinery and equipment; motor vehicle equipment; other transport equipment; computer, electronic and optical products; and information technology and information services.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
It found that in 2018, Taiwan’s market share in the industries relative to its size was 219 percent higher than the global average, followed by South Korea at 206 percent.
By contrast, Germany’s relative share of the global market in those sectors was 74 percent higher than the global average, Japan’s was 43 percent higher and China’s 34 percent higher, while the US finished below the global average.
In terms of performance, the report said that Taiwan’s global share of advanced industrial production sectors had declined slightly over the past 25 years, slipping in six of the seven industry categories.
However, in one industry category — computers, electronics and optics — Taiwan’s global share grew by 1.3 percentage points, largely due to the performance of companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
Overall, Taiwan’s advanced industrial output was “the least diversified” of the countries in the study, with almost nine times more computer and electronics production as a share of its economy than the global average, the report said.
“Because of this, advanced industries make up more than twice the share of its economy as the global average,” despite Taiwan’s weakness in industries such as pharmaceuticals and automobiles, it said.
More broadly, the report aimed to highlight the US’ relatively weak position in a range of advanced industries that are strategically important for economic and national security.
Compared with China, whose share of global output in the industries grew from less than 4 percent in 1995 to 21.5 percent in 2018, the US’ market share fell from 24 percent to 22.5 percent, the report said.
Calling the findings “an urgent wake-up call,” it urged the US government to launch an economic “moon shot” initiative aimed at increasing its relative level of advanced industry concentration by 20 percentage points over the next decade.
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ¥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples