Digitimes, an Asia-based premium source of tech supply chain information, undertook a six-month study on the financial reports of 4,725 publicly listed corporations across 11 countries in Asia and compiled its first annual report on the top 100 Asian suppliers - Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100) in 2021. Released on June 15, the report contains the rankings among Asia's top 100 suppliers along with a look into supply chain trends and an analysis on the competitiveness of Asian countries. Digitimes plans to release updated statistics on an annual basis going forward and keep track of the changes in the rankings among Asia's high-tech suppliers in the long run.
Countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia stand a chance of becoming rising stars in the midst of supply chain shifts and the move toward shorter supply chains and localization. Four Indian firms and one Indonesian firm entered Digitimes' Asia Supply Chain 100 (ASC100). By region, Tata Motors at No. 22 in ASC100 is the champion in Southeast Asia and South Asia, followed by Indonesia's Astra International (No. 68) and India's Mahindra & Mahindra (No. 69), Maruti Suzuki (No. 74) and Motherson Sumi (No. 89). ASC 100 is a study based on the companies' revenues, profit and market cap that will be renewed annually.
In the first five months of 2021, 25 new industrial parks were established in Vietnam, a significant increase from the first-half 2020's six, according to research by US-based CBRE.
The Apple supply chain's shift of operation to India, in line with the incentives provided by the Indian government, has reportedly created around 20,000 job opportunities so far in the South Asian country.
With Asia Pacific countries such as Taiwan and Malaysia witnessing COVID-19 infections surging, sources from the upstream supply chain believe shortages of notebook components could worsen.
Taiwan's tech firms have intensified coronavirus-prevention measures after COVID-19 hit some local semiconductors plants, with KYEC bearing the brunt of the impacts, raising concerns about the stability of IC supply that has already been troubled by capacity shortage for months. In the IT market, despite speculation that demand for notebooks may weaken in second-half 2021 as a result of easing of the pandemic, ODMs are still confident about notebook orders throughout the year. In India, Lava International reportedly is preparing for IPO, as it seeks to reclaim lost ground in the local handset market.
Lava International, an India-based smartphone manufacturer, is preparing for initial public offering (IPO), in line with a trend that sees ndian companies showing keeness to seize the opportunities available to expand their market share and capitalization, according to local media reports.
Samsung Electronics is expected to see sales of its non-memory business particularly the system LSI segment boom this year, buoyed by strong demand for handset application processors, CMOS image sensors, power management chips and display driver ICs.
Shipments of TWS (true wireless stereo) devices in the Indian market remained strong in first-quarter 2021 with local brands having a major share, according to Counterpoint Research.
While Southeast Asia is the most popular investment destination for electronics manufacturers seeking to diversify production, Vietnam seems to be the biggest beneficiary of the so-called "China+1" strategy - running production in China and other places at the same time.
Taiwan-based optical component suppliers are conservative about their business prospects for the second half of 2021, as demand for their products for 5G applications from their clients in China is falling short of expectation.
Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) has announced that it is partnering with a hospital in northern Taiwan to offer zero-contact medical services amid a surge in COVID-19 infections in the country.
TSMC is gearing up expansion of its capacity in response to strong demand from diverse sectors. According to the foundry's CEO, TSMC will invest a total of US$100 billion in capacity expansion through 2023. In the car industry, Foxconn has made yet another move to expand its reach in the electric vehicle sector. Foxconn and Thailand's PTT have just signed an MoU for forming a JV for the production of EV in Thailand. The importance of Southeast Asia for the global supply chain is growing fast. Austria-based AT&S has just disclosed a plan to set up an ABF substrate production base in Southeast Asia.
Foxconn Technology Group (Hon Hai) will form a joint venture with PTT, Thailand's majority state-owned oil and gas company, in the second half of 2021 as part of their memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed for cooperative production of electric vehicles (EV) in the Southeast Asian country.
