Foxconn founder Terry Kuo has said that in the future, there will be only G2 (the US and China), not G20 in the world. The ideological battle will probably force all manufacturers to take sides or lay out more diversified production ecosystems, and the labor force and potential markets in ASEAN and South Asia will become the best choice for industry players. To avoid becoming casualties in the conflict between the two superpowers, the best strategy is to create a third battlefield that the G2 needs. The current industry structure does have the opportunity to allow Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese manufacturers to find more space in emerging markets.

South Korea’s global market shares in electric vehicles (EVs) and lithium-ion batteries in 2021 slid by 0.8pp and 2pp year-on-year, while China’s shares in the two sectors moved up, according to media reports.

Taiwan’s IC analysis and inspection labs are optimistic about better performance in the second half of 2022 than the first half, bolstered by increasing wafer material analysis (MA) demand by foundry houses and reliability analysis (RA) for advanced chips packaging, as well as mounting penetration of 5G and Wi-Fi 6/6E technologies in midrange handsets, notebooks and CPE (customer premise equipment), according to industry sources.