In terms of weight, more than 90% of the world’s transnational trade and transport relies on maritime transport, with the rest being mostly transnational land transport, and air transport accounting for only 0.21%. However, the high unit price and efficiency of air transport accounts for 26% of global trade. In 2021, Taiwan air transport in terms of weight accounted for only 0.23% its imports and exports, but because of the contribution of high-tech, semiconductor products, Taiwan saw 47% of the total value its imports and exports came through air tansport in 2021.

This Asia tech industry summary will mainly focus on Samsung Electronics unveiling a KRW450 trillion (US$359.84 billion) investment plan for its semiconductor and biotechnology businesses; China-based smartphone makers Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo deepening their metaverse deployments; and South Korea-based Samsung SDI, LG Energy Solution (LGES), and SK On actively exploring partnerships with automakers to build bigger presence in the North American automotive battery market.

PCB manufacturer Zhen Ding Technology remains optimistic about its sales performance for 2022, with its BT substrate revenue reaching at least NT$5 billion (US$170 million).

The arrival of next-gen graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia in the second half of 2022 is expected to stimulate demand, according to cooling component suppliers.