How fast things change in the world of technological competition
In the 1990s Europe, the United States and Japan made all of the world's semiconductors. Their combined share has since collapsed, while China has gone from 0% to 24%.
How fast things change in the world of technological competition. In the 1990s Europe, the United States and Japan accounted for 44%, 37% and 19% of global semiconductor production respectively — that is, they made all the world’s semiconductors.
Today Europe’s and the United States’ shares of this very important branch of industry stand at 8% and 11% respectively — a catastrophic decline over the past three-plus decades. Japan’s share has also fallen, from 19% to 15%, but that is minor compared with the US and Europe.
It is striking that over the same period China raised its share of semiconductor production from 0% to 24% of the world total. The remaining shares of the global semiconductor market belong to South Korea and Taiwan, at roughly 18% each. Broadly speaking, the shares lost by the United States, Europe and Japan were taken by China, South Korea, Taiwan and other countries (up to 6%). At one point much of US industry was moved to China, Taiwan and South Korea.
According to one forecast, however, by 2032 — over the next seven years — the US share should rise to 14%, Europe’s to 9% and South Korea’s to 19%, while China’s should shrink to 21%. In any case, Trump’s trade and industrial policy of bringing industry back and cutting energy costs to spur US industrial growth fits that forecast.