From personal computers to memory chips, electronics** play a vital role in the world economy. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, in 2021, the global export value of electronics reached 4$1 trillion.
In 2021, seven of the top 10 countries in the world in terms of electronics exports were Asian countries, followed by the United States, Germany and Mexico. The top 6 are all Asian countries.
According to McKinsey data, in 2021, China's electronics exports accounted for 34% of the world's total, with an export scale of about 1At $4 trillion, it ranks first in the world and is significantly ahead of other countries. This is followed by Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia, with market share of % and 5%, respectively, ranking second to fifth.
In 2021, China's electronics exports accounted for 34% of the world's total
Japan, the United States and Germany electronics exports accounted for 4% of the world's total, the sum of the three is only 12%, compared with China, there is a large gap, China's electronic exports are equivalent to the United States, Japan and Germany combined 283 times, which is equivalent to 179 times.
In the past 20 years, China's exports of electronic products and high-tech products have grown significantly, ranking first in the world
In the past 20 years, China's share of global electronics exports has increased the most, from 9% in 2020 to 34% in 2021. Taiwan and South Korea increased from 6% and 5% to 11% and 7%, respectively.
At the same time, in addition to electronics, China's overall exports of high-tech products also rank first in the world, and significantly ahead of other countries. According to the latest data from the German Federal Trade and Invest Agency (GTAI), China ranked first in the world in 2020 among the largest exporters of high-tech products, accounting for 238%。At the same time, the U.S. share fell to 71%, ranking second;Germany accounted for 56%, ranking fourth;Japan accounted for only 32%, ranking sixth.
In 1990, the United States, Japan and Germany led the world in high-tech exports, accounting for a share of global exports. 5% and 108%。At that time, China's high-tech exports accounted for only 0 percent of the world's total6。But then it took only a decade or so for China to approach the top 10. In 2005, China overtook the United States as the world's top performer in high-tech exports for the first time, and since 2005, China has widened the gap with competitors such as the United States in both percentage and absolute terms.
China's exports of electronic products and high-tech products occupy an absolutely dominant position in the world, which fully shows that China's scientific and technological strength has been fundamentally enhanced in recent years. Although there are still many gaps between China and the United States in the overall field of science and technology, after years of development, the gap between China and the United States has been greatly narrowed.
At the same time, in terms of the number of patents and the natural index and other indicators of scientific and technological strength, as well as some cutting-edge and emerging technology fields, China has even surpassed the United States, and the comparison of scientific and technological strength between China and the United States has undergone a fundamental change.
On December 13, the U.S. Information Technology and Innovation Association (ITIF) released a report pointing out that by the end of 2020, among the world's 10 strategic industries, China occupied a global leading position in seven industries: electronics, chemicals, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, basic metals, metal products and electrical equipment, while the United States had an advantage in the remaining three industries - pharmaceuticals, IT and information technology services, and other transportation.
The ITIF report adds that even in the latter three industries, U.S. dominance may not be sustainable, as China has made these industries a priority area for development.
The United States and Japan have the largest share of global electronics exports**
In addition, in the past 20 years, the United States and Japan have accounted for the largest share of global electronic product exports, with the global share of American electronic products falling from 16% to 4%, and Japan falling from 13% to 4%.
The main reason for the global share of Japan's electronic product exports is the decline in the competitiveness of Japan's electronics industry, in recent years, a series of Japan's advantageous industries have been counterattacked by China and South Korea, the number of Japan's world-leading industries has continued to decline rapidly, and the position of Japanese companies in the global economy is also declining rapidly.
In the 2022 Global "Share of Major Goods and Services Survey" conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, among the 63 key industry categories in the world, Japan has only 6 industries leading the world, and China has 16 industries leading the world, second only to the United States with 22.
In a similar survey conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun in 2014, Japan led 11 of the world's 50 key industrial categories, second only to the United States with 18, while China had only 6 at the time. Over the past eight years, the number of Japan's leading global industries has decreased by five, while China's number has increased by 10.
At the same time, as Japan's industrial competitiveness continues to decline, the global status of Japanese companies is rapidly declining. In 1996, 11 Japanese companies were ranked in the top 20 and 6 were in the top 10 in the world. And a number of companies are in the top 50. In 2023, only 2 Japanese companies will enter the top 50 in the world, and Toyota, Japan's largest company, will only rank 19th.
The main reasons for the decline in the share of U.S. electronics exports include factors such as industrial relocation, and the U.S. has outsourced technology to countries with lower manufacturing, production and labor costs for nearly 20 years. However, with the policy of reshoring manufacturing in the United States in recent years, the United States is currently introducing a series of measures to promote the return of industries including semiconductors to the United States.