Using the IMF's statistics on global GDP, I will explore the keys to the post-1950 rise of the four Asian Tigers. I have chosen 1950, 1980, 2009, 2019, and 2023 as nodes to explore the century and the world as we have experienced it.
Visual Capitalist has published a study that organizes the evolution of total economic output and GDP for various countries over the past 2,000 years. Using data estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the statistics show how human economic activity has evolved over the past 2,000 years.
The market is looking forward to the business opportunities of electric vehicles; however, the demand has been impacted by the weaker-than-expected macroeconomic growth.
In 2023, Taiwan's exports declined by 9.8%, which is of course related to the weakening of electronics exports, but with a total export value of US$432.5 billion, a trade surplus of US$80.56 billion, and a surplus of over US$300 billion in tax revenue, the overall result is not too bad. S&P Global projects a 19.2% growth for Taiwan's exports in 2024. What can be expected optimistically and what should be planned for?
In 2023, 940 plus publicly listed electronics companies in Taiwan reported a total of US$833 billion in revenues, down 12.6% from US$953 billion in 2022. This number reflected the global industry struggle last year. Looking ahead into 2024, many electronic company executives said they expect a gradual rebound this year. However, we observe that not only the pace of the rebound is slower than expected, but the strength in the rebounds is also significantly different in sectors.
Newcomers to the industry are often intimidated by the flexibility and diversity of the strategies of the traditional large companies that are constantly responding to change. When analyzing industry trends, real-time information is needed with industry knowledge accumulated over the years. We have selected 10 issues enterprises must pay attention to in 2024 for this series of column articles.
Geopolitical pressures and changes in industrial structure are driving strategic collaborations among semiconductor companies, with various countries or regions incentivized for partnerships, particularly Taiwan and Japan. However, support from Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea is essential to establish ICT supply chains in emerging countries such as South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The Japanese government's efforts to attract foreign semiconductor investment have been very effective, with almost every major international semiconductor manufacturer responding to the call. In addition, Rapidus, a company formed by a consortium of local companies, is also targeting the development of cutting-edge processes.
In the second half of the 1990s, Samsung Electronics came to the forefront of Dataquest's DRAM manufacturer rankings. NEC and Toshiba were in second and third place, and other Japanese companies were ranked in the top 10.
The "globalization era" should be counted from the 1960s, when Japan and the Four Asian Tigers created a rare economic miracle by developing their industries one after another, as described by the "flying geese" theory. The period between the collapse of the USSR in 1990 and before the 2008 Beijing Olympics can be considered the golden years of "globalization."
In 1492, Queen Isabella of Spain drove out the Moors and supported Christopher Columbus in discovering the New World, evoking a pivotal moment in the Age of Discovery.
It has been half a century since the semiconductor industry began in the 1970s. At first, semiconductors were just a supporting component developed by large corporations to enhance the functionality of their system products. However, the formation of the industry began with Intel in Silicon Valley.
2030 will inaugurate a "Silicon Era" of quarter-finals competition among industrial nations, as applications such as electrical vehicles, connected cars, and artificial intelligence (AI) are advancing at exponential speeds.
In the decade since AlphaGo was introduced, neural networks in machine learning have been gradually applied to various industrial and commercial scenarios. One of the applications related to material development is the optimization of the material production process, which has been in industrial practice for some time.
