Hong Kong, China and Taiwan ranked as the world’s leading semiconductor exporters in 2020, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Hong Kong’s foreign sales were $ 168.038 million; those of China, 152,785 million, and those of Taiwan, 127,735 million.
Why are semiconductors important? A sample example: Modern cars cannot be made without semiconductors, which are used in entertainment, driver assistance, and security systems, among other applications.
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, supply chain bottlenecks have been particularly restrictive in the motor vehicle sector, where global shortages of semiconductors and other parts have reduced production.
At the same time, prices for motorized vehicles, particularly used vehicles, have skyrocketed in recent months and are currently at levels well above pre-Covid-19 trends.
The semiconductor shortage was exacerbated when a chip factory in Japan closed for about a month in the spring of 2021 after being damaged by fire. The company then announced that they expect their shipments to return to pre-fire levels by the end of July.
Semiconductor exporters
An analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland indicated that recent inflation readings in the United States have been high, but have been driven in part by components with known supply problems and components related to the reopening of the economy.
In that analysis, released last September, the impact of a bottleneck (the shortage of semiconductors) on the production of vehicles and the prices of new cars is studied.
Thus it was discovered that capacity utilization in the US semiconductor industry has increased to very high levels recently, probably reflecting a global semiconductor shortage.
Survey data shows that vehicle manufacturers are more likely to report that insufficient materials, including a lack of semiconductors, are limiting production than before the pandemic recession.
Demand appears to be less of a problem. This shortage has occurred simultaneously with an acceleration in new car prices and a sharp reduction in vehicle inventories, suggesting insufficient supply.
Ultimately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland assumes that this shortage and its effects on new car prices will diminish over the next six to nine months.
Other prominent semiconductor exporters in 2020 were: Singapore ($ 95.525 million), South Korea ($ 87.740 million), Malaysia ($ 56.902 million), United States ($ 50.372 million), Japan ($ 37.806 million), Philippines ($ 21.753 million) and Germany (19,241 million).
