Looking at the world's total GDP, which has increased 25 times over the past 70 years, we can also look at Taiwan's experience and find a few turning points in time to explore in detail the key factors that drove the growth.
As China's National People's Congress holds its annual Two Sessions meeting, the defense budget for 2024 submitted by China's Ministry of Finance has revealed a 7.2% growth to reach CNY1.67 trillion (US$232 billion), surpassing its moderate GDP growth target set at around 5%. In the government work report delivered by China's Premier Li Qiang, the term "peaceful reunification" has been dropped, a change that was soon picked up by international media.
Using the IMF's statistics on global GDP, I will explore the keys to the post-1950 rise of the four Asian Tigers. I have chosen 1950, 1980, 2009, 2019, and 2023 as nodes to explore the century and the world as we have experienced it.
Founded in 2007, UBI Research has become South Korea's most renowned research institution regarding the panel industry by establishing a diverse OLED database through its extensive research on LCD and OLED panel technologies and long-term observations of IT market trends.
Visual Capitalist has published a study that organizes the evolution of total economic output and GDP for various countries over the past 2,000 years. Using data estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the statistics show how human economic activity has evolved over the past 2,000 years.
The market is looking forward to the business opportunities of electric vehicles; however, the demand has been impacted by the weaker-than-expected macroeconomic growth.
The high, double-digit annual shipment growth rate of foldable smartphones has caused the market to view it as a crucial product line that will drive the turnaround in overall smartphone demand in 2024. There are reports that major companies like Samsung Electronics and Huawei plan to release budget versions of foldable smartphones in 2024 to boost sales even faster.
Rumors persist that Apple is interested in investing in the development of the Apple Car. Recent speculations suggest that Project Titan, which has never been officially confirmed, might be terminated. According to industry sources, Apple's current main contract assembler, Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), is not expected to be greatly affected despite its increasing emphasis on electric vehicles (EVs).
In 2023, Taiwan's exports declined by 9.8%, which is of course related to the weakening of electronics exports, but with a total export value of US$432.5 billion, a trade surplus of US$80.56 billion, and a surplus of over US$300 billion in tax revenue, the overall result is not too bad. S&P Global projects a 19.2% growth for Taiwan's exports in 2024. What can be expected optimistically and what should be planned for?
According to reports, Apple has abandoned its nearly decade-long electric vehicle (EV) R&D and production strategy, leaving many wondering how this will impact Taiwan's ICT supply chain.
In university, I studied electrical engineering, and at that time, semiconductors were an emerging field. The electronics courses we took still taught vacuum tubes. It wasn't until near graduation that a visiting professor from abroad started teaching courses on semiconductors. After completing my military service, I went to the United States to study computer engineering. Computer engineering is closely related to semiconductors, as semiconductor chips gradually replaced vacuum tubes as components of computers. In 1978, after graduating from graduate school, I found a job as a design engineer in Silicon Valley, California, and began to delve into advanced microprocessor design.
In 2023, 940 plus publicly listed electronics companies in Taiwan reported a total of US$833 billion in revenues, down 12.6% from US$953 billion in 2022. This number reflected the global industry struggle last year. Looking ahead into 2024, many electronic company executives said they expect a gradual rebound this year. However, we observe that not only the pace of the rebound is slower than expected, but the strength in the rebounds is also significantly different in sectors.
