The global electronic system design (ESD) industry revenue increased 14.4% from US$3.03 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020 (4Q20) to US$3.47 billion in 4Q21.

The ESD Alliance, a Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI) technology community in its latest Electronic Design Market Data (EDMD) report released on Monday (April 4) said the four-quarter moving average, which compares the most recent four quarters to the prior four, rose 15.8%.  

Executive Sponsor of the SEMI Electronic Design Market Data report Walden C. Rhines said the industry continued to report double-digit year-over-year revenue growth for 4Q21 and ended 2021 with US$13.2 billion total market revenue.

“Product categories Computer-Aided Engineering, Printed Circuit Board and Multi-Chip Module, Semiconductor Intellectual Property, and Services recorded double-digit growth for the quarter. Geographically, the Americas; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia-Pacific (APAC) all reported revenue growth,” he said.

ESD Alliance said the companies tracked in the EDMD report employed 51,236 people globally in 4Q21, a 5.7% increase over the 4Q20 headcount of 48,478 and up 0.1% compared to 3Q21.

Revenue by region

ESD Alliance said the Americas, the largest reporting region by revenue, procured US$1.58 billion of electronic system design products and services in 4Q21, a 21% increase.

It said the four-quarter moving average for the Americas rose 17.2%.

Japan’s procurement of electronic system design products and services decreased 2.4% to US$222.8 million. The four-quarter moving average for Japan rose 1%.

APAC procured US$1.19 billion of electronic system design products and services in 4Q21, a 13.8% increase. The four-quarter moving average for APAC increased 18.9%.

Source: The Edge Markets

Global electronic system design industry 4Q21 revenue grew 14% y-o-y

Global fab equipment spending for front-end facilities is expected to rise 18% year-on-year (y-o-y) to an all-time high of US$107 billion in 2022, marking a third consecutive year of growth following a 42% jump in 2021.

In its latest quarterly World Fab Forecast report released on Tuesday (March 22), the US-based Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI) president and CEO Ajit Manocha said that crossing the US$100 billion mark in spending on global fab equipment for the first time is a historic ​milestone for the semiconductor industry.

“This ​significant achievement is a tribute to the relentless drive to add and upgrade capacity to address a diverse range of markets and emerging applications, solidifying expectations for long-term industry growth to enable electronics for the digital world,” he said.

Meanwhile, SEMI vice president of Corporate Marketing and the Market Intelligence Team Sanjay Malhotra said global fab equipment spending is forecast to have another healthy year in 2023 and is expected to remain above the US$100 billion mark.

“We expect global semiconductor capacity to maintain steady growth this year and in 2023,” he said.

Region

SEMI said Taiwan is expected to lead fab equipment spending in 2022, increasing investments 56% y-o-y to US$35 billion, followed by Korea at US$26 billion, a 9% rise, and China at US$17.5 billion, a 30% drop from its peak last year.

Europe/Mideast is forecast to log record high spending of US$9.6 billion this year, and while comparatively smaller, this would represent a staggering growth of 248% y-o-y.

Meanwhile, Taiwan, Korea and Southeast Asia are also expected to register record high investments in 2022.

In the Americas, the report shows fab equipment spending peaking at US$9.8 billion by 2023.

Capacity

SEMI said capacity growth is expected to continue increasing, rising 6% in 2023.

It said the fab equipment industry last saw a y-o-y installed capacity growth rate of 8% in 2010, when it topped 16 million wafers per month (200mm equivalents) – nearly half of the 29 million wafers per month (200mm equivalents) projected for 2023.

It said over 83% of equipment spending in 2022 will stem from capacity increases at 150 fabs and production lines, a proportion expected to edge down to 81% next year as 122 known fabs and lines add capacity.

SEMI said the foundry sector, with a share of about 50%, will account for the bulk of equipment spending in 2022 and 2023, followed by memory at 35%.

The two sectors also represent most of the capacity increases, it said.

Source: The Edge Markets

Global fab equipment spending to hit record US$107 billion in 2022, says SEMI

GOVERNMENTS around Southeast Asia (SEA) are prioritising investments to strengthen digital capabilities among local enterprises. Particular in Malaysia, we have seen both the public and private sector put in place an increasing number of upskilling initiatives, many of which focus on equipping the current and future workforce with the skills needed to meet the demands of a digital-first economy. For instance, under the recently announced RM4.8 billion JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative, the Malaysian government aims to provide various training and skills upgrading programs in where a priority is given to equipping Malaysians with digital skills.

As these initiatives encourage firms to accelerate technology adoption, hiring and training to address immediate digital skills gaps across all functions, there are four areas that they can focus on to gain a competitive advantage in the digital-first economy.

Commerce

Every business is a digital business today. While the initial stages of the pandemic in 2020 saw a frantic rush to e-commerce, 2021 was more about adapting to ongoing uncertainty.

As businesses recalibrate for 2022, online retail spending is expected to grow. Consumers have enjoyed an explosion of choices over the past 18 months, and personalisation will be the key differentiator for brands to stand out. Businesses that invest in omnichannel commerce capabilities will be able to optimise their personalisation efforts and deliver relevant experiences across touchpoints, improving customer loyalty and retention.

For example, Aldo, who operates 80 stores across Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia, revitalised their online stores with Adobe Commerce. They integrated its websites and offline point-of-sales into a single cloud inventory, gaining the ability to scale quickly and the flexibility to manage complex, personalised promotions – which in turn ensured that they delivered a local e-commerce experience to their customers across the region.

Content creation

While the Metaverse may seem like a futuristic sci-fi concept, investing in your team’s capabilities now to create for the 3D, VR, AR space will futureproof your business. Beyond the gaming and entertainment industries, businesses globally are increasingly experimenting with new forms of digital and 3D content, NFTs, retail formats, and engagements with customers in the Metaverse.

Amazon, for example, creates immersive shopping experiences with photorealistic 3D assets for key product categories, including furniture and fittings. Customers can spin a product 360 degrees to inspect it from every angle or use Amazon’s “View in Your Room” feature to preview what furniture will look like in their homes. By doing this, Amazon is not only bringing shoppers closer to the products and enhancing their online shopping experience, but also accelerating content velocity by eliminating the need to manufacture prototypes and take photos of millions of products.

And with the Metaverse gaining momentum, there will also be new streams of digital customers, digital journeys, and data to track and manage.

Effective customer data management

As brands increasingly shift their focus to first-party data in preparation for the deprecation of third-party cookies, there will be new data privacy challenges as well as opportunities to tap into.

Effective customer data management requires the right technology and platforms and demands strategic collaboration across internal teams – including IT, marketing, finance, and legal – as well as a corresponding shift in skills and mindset among the employees. Functional teams will need to develop new skills to understand how and where data can be leveraged to inform decisions and connect all possible touchpoints where data can be collected from, tested, and refined to improve customer experiences.

U Mobile, for instance, launched its refreshed website and customer experience delivery platform, powered by Adobe Experience Cloud, to enhance personalised and individually tailored experiences for its Malaysian customers. Today, U Mobile is able to have greater autonomy and agility in managing content to deliver an enahnced, trilingual customer experience to help the telco better service their customers on digital channels.

Hybrid work

Businesses organised for speed, collaboration and innovation are best positioned to turn possibilities into commercial opportunities. However, many organisations today are being constrained by outdated working practices and technology, stifling creativity and speed to market. While the trend of hybrid work is here to stay, many SEA firms are not ready to embrace this future – posing a further challenge to talent acquisition and retention. Organisations must reorientate for agility by modernising working practices and technology infrastructure – including document processes and workflows and collaboration tools – and adapting to a hybrid working world.

Looking ahead in 2022, change is here to stay. Now that consumers are rewired for digital, their expectations for personalised experiences have intensified. SEA businesses must create change at every level of their organisation to compete in the digital-first economy – from embracing first-party data to increasing experience investment.

This article is contributed by Adobe managing director, Southeast Asia & Korea, Simon Dale.

Source: The Sun Daily

4 digital capabilities SEA businesses should focus on in 2022

The US-based Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI) is expecting another healthy year for the global semiconductor industry in 2022.

In an exclusive interview, SEMI president and CEO Ajit Manocha (pictured) said the longer-term growth outlook is exceptional and exciting, with projections pointing to the industry more than doubling revenue to approximately US$1.3 trillion (RM5.43 trillion) by 2030.

In an email interview with theedgemarkets.com, Manocha said that during the current chip shortage, one major benefit for the industry has been the broader realisation that semiconductors are ubiquitous building blocks, omnipresent in all electronic devices.

He said accelerating digital transformation and the convergence of AI, IoT, AR/VR, (Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, augmented reality/virtual reality) quantum computing, autonomous machines and many other emerging technologies will touch virtually every end market, resulting in tremendous opportunities ahead for the semiconductor industry.

“I truly believe [that] this is the most exciting time in the industry’s history,” he said.

Challenges

Manocha said the industry had witnessed unprecedented challenges with the Covid-19 pandemic and increasing geopolitical tensions in the past few years.

However, he explained that the semiconductor industry has coped well and shown strong growth.

He added that while there are still challenges on those fronts, a more serious obstacle to industry growth is the widening talent gap.

“The industry is expanding operations and production capacity to address the current chip shortage and to prepare for growing demand, but the workforce shortage is more difficult to overcome in a short time span.

“SEMI is diligently working with our member companies and partners from industry, government and academia to build on our holistic workforce development program to address STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education [in] schools and university, through an industry worker’s career path,” he said.

Resources

Manocha said the recent helium shortage is due to a number of factors: declining production at the world’s largest helium source – the US government’s Bureau of Land Management facility in Amarillo, Texas, plus long outages at other helium facilities in the US and Algeria.

“That said, SEMI is working closely with the industry and relevant governments, and the various helium sources to avoid disruptions in supply,” he said.

Helium is an important element in the processing of silicon into functioning chips done in a fabrication facilities (fabs).

Lessons from pandemic

Manocha said the most important lesson from the pandemic has been how crucial semiconductors are to all facets of lives.

He said within the semiconductor industry, companies used lessons from the pandemic to revamp and expand business continuity plans to mitigate future manmade and natural disasters.

He explained that additionally, companies in the industry have taken a huge step forward in advancing remote diagnostics and smart manufacturing in general.

“At SEMI, we had to shift a lot of our in-person events to a virtual format over the past couple of years.

“While there were a lot of lessons around this and our broader digital transformation, I do feel a key lesson during the pandemic has been how much people miss attending face-to-face events.

“We are definitely looking forward to SEMICON Southeast Asia’s return to Malaysia and getting back to networking with colleagues in the region,” he said.

Clean energy

Manocha said SEMI member companies and their executives are very committed and focused on sustainability.

“It is clear that key stakeholders – such as investors, current and potential employees, governments and customers – care deeply about this issue.

“The SEMI Sustainability Initiative is helping to align the industry on goals and further BKMs (best known methods) around clean energy,” he said.

Chip shortages

Manocha highlighted that while the semiconductor industry, including chip and equipment manufacturers, is working very closely with the industries that use chips in order to meet demand, SEMI has taken a leading role in bringing together the key players to mitigate a similar shortage situation in the future.

He said SEMI has launched a survey for participants to better understand the impact they are seeing and the collaborative actions that can be taken to prevent this from happening again.

Secondly, he said SEMI has worked to raise the awareness of the situation.

“I have personally spoken with top government officials, industry leaders and visionaries to highlight the dire situation so that they can help to alleviate near term pain.

“Finally, the industry is investing significantly to add production capacity.

“The SEMI World Fab Forecast database is tracking 86 fabs with major capacity coming online between 2020 and 2024.

“Semiconductor fabs cost billions of dollars to build and can take two years to bring online, so it does take time to see [the] impact of these incredibly complex facilities,” he said.

Source: The Edge Markets

Global semiconductor equipment materials industry revenue to hit US$1.3tril by 2030, says SEMI

Global semiconductor industry sales rose 26.8% year-on-year to US$50.7 billion in January 2022, from US$40 billion a year earlier, said the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

In a statement on its website on Thursday (March 3), SIA said the figure was 0.2% less than the December 2021 total of US$50.9 billion.

Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

SIA president and CEO John Neuffer said following record sales and units shipped in 2021, global semiconductor sales remained strong at the beginning of 2022, reaching the second-highest-ever monthly total in January.

“Global sales in January increased by more than 20% for the tenth consecutive month on a year-to-year basis, and sales into the Americas increased by 40.2% year-to-year in January to lead all regional markets,” he said.

SIA said that in addition to the year-to-year sales increase in the Americas, sales were up compared to January 2021 in Europe (28.7%), China (24.4%), Asia Pacific/All Other (21.0%), and Japan (18.9%).

Month-to-month sales increased in Europe (3.4%) and Asia Pacific/All Other (0.4%), but fell slightly in China (-0.7%), the Americas (-1.1%), and Japan (-1.3%).

Source: The Edge Markets

Global semicon sales rose 27% y-o-y in January to US$50.7 billion, says SIA

Southeast Asian countries are focusing on going the sustainable way via clean energy and a green economy, with specific strategies and actions to accelerate the energy transition, according to the ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE).

In a report, the agency said that Thailand is taking steps to curb carbon emissions in its energy and transport sectors under its 2022 national energy plan, in order to return to a cleaner economy.

It noted that Thailand’s greenhouse gas emissions amounted to an average of 350 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is focusing on earth-friendly energy, with one of its largest power retailers planning to tap nuclear, solar and wind energy to power its way to green energy transition.

Elsewhere in the region, Indonesia’s state-owned oil and natural gas firm, Pertamina plans to install rooftop solar power plants at its 5,000 gas stations.

Singapore is also looking to diversify its energy sources by exploring hydrogen and nuclear power for energy resilience and energy security, and to reduce its carbon footprint, said ACE.

The report highlighted that around 95 per cent of the republic’s electricity is generated through using natural gas, which carries serious risks.

In terms of the capital markets, Malaysia is ahead of its ASEAN peers in sustainable and responsible investing (SRI).

As of November last year, the country’s sukuk issuance stood at US$3.9 billion (US$1=RM4.18), or 56 per cent of ASEAN’s total SRI sukuk issuance.

“This significantly improves the implementation of environmental, social and governance strategies and practices amidst the evolving global finance and investment landscape”, the report said.

The ACE is an intergovernmental organisation within the ASEAN structure that represents the 10 member states’ interests in the energy sector.

Source: Bernama

Southeast Asia ramps up energy transition initiatives

Asean manufacturers saw an improvement in business conditions last month, according to IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data.

The latest survey results showed demand continued to rebound, as order book volumes rose at the fastest pace since October last year, with factory production expanding solidly as a result. At the same time, inflationary pressures remained elevated.

Input costs rose steeply, albeit at the slowest pace for five months, while goods producers raised their charges at the quickest rate on record. At 52.5 in February, the headline PMI pointed to a fifth successive monthly improvement in the health of the Asean manufacturing sector.The latest figure was little-changed from January’s reading of 52.7 and remained among the highest on record. Manufacturing conditions improved in six of the seven constituent Asean nations in February.

or the third month running, Singapore registered the highest headline figure, which at 58.3 in February, signalled the quickest upturn in the health of the manufacturing sector on record.

Second in the rankings was Vietnam, where business conditions improved at the fastest pace since last April (PMI at 54.3).

The Philippines registered a return to expansion territory midway through the first quarter of 2022. The headline Index rose from 50.0 in January to 52.8 in February, indicative of a marginal improvement in the health of the sector.

Growth also accelerated in Thailand, with the headline PMI hitting a fresh series high of 52.5 and signalling a strong overall upturn.

Meanwhile, Malaysia too saw an accelerated pace of growth during February, although at 50.9, the headline figure pointed to only a mild improvement in conditions overall.Indonesia was the only nation to record a slower pace of improvement in manufacturing conditions during February.

Source: The Star

Asean manufacturers see improved conditions

THE pandemic-driven surge in demand for online goods and services has spurred digitalisation as the world went into lockdown. As a result, big-tech companies have enjoyed strong revenue and earnings growth in 2020 and 2021 driving their share prices up.

However, we see signs of an earnings slowdown in 4Q21, with big names like Amazon and Apple facing supply chain disruptions, and Meta Platforms experiencing the impact of Apple’s new privacy policies.

The strong earnings growth delivered by internet companies over the past year may be difficult to sustain in the coming quarters, which could put a lid on further share price appreciation for the time being.

Share price performance of the O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF

Earnings growth has declined from peak growth in late 2020 and early 2021

Corporate digital transformation the next growth driver

Within the digital economy sphere, we expect segments that are exposed to corporate demand, such as cloud, software-as-a-service (SaaS), and cybersecurity to do well in the coming years. The pandemic was a wake-up call for businesses to speed up the adoption of technology in order to remain competitive as the global economy becomes increasingly digitalised.

Among the big-tech companies, Microsoft and Google have managed to outperform the other big tech players over the past few quarters. A key reason for this is because both these companies are more exposed to corporate demand, offering cloud, digital advertising, and a variety of software products and services. This goes to show that corporate digital transformation will likely be the next growth driver for the digital economy.

Based on our analysis, leading US vendors confirm that corporates have begun implementing a big push towards digital transformation. Additionally, corporate digital transformation will also drive the growth of the cloud computing industry.

From a Goldman Sachs IT spending survey, the majority of the 100 CIOs interviewed expect IT spending to increase from last year, with cloud adoption to double over the next three years.

Although we are not extremely bullish on the near-term prospects of the digital economy, in the long-term, we remain positive on the growth of the digital economy and expect a smooth uptick in demand for digital services as corporates ramp up their digitalisation efforts.

Nasdaq 100 versus the US 10 year treasury rate – 2 year

Companies that have higher exposure to corporate demand are doing well, such as Microsoft and Google

Digital transformation opportunities hold for traditional industries

In the long-term, the growth potential for the digital economy is significant, as many industries have yet to embark on a large scale digital transformation. Over the past decade industries that have gone ahead in digital transformation include the retail, entertainment, and advertising industries which are led by the Internet giants.

However, many industries, including logistics, supply chain, and manufacturing lag behind. But the tides are turning and these industries are expected to catch up over the next few years, making the digital economy an ever more significant aspect of economies.

In the case of the logistics industry, several catalysts including the recent labour shortages in the US, as well as the supply chain disruptions may potentially speed up the pace of digital transformation.

The unemployment rate in the US has plunged to a 22-month low of 3.9 per cent in December 2021, suggesting the labour market is rapidly tightening. As companies scramble for scarce workers, wages are expected to jump to 3.9 per cent in 2022.

Alongside the tight labour market comes the supply chain disruptions, which have resulted in delays across the world. The industry is disrupted across all layers from truck drivers to port managers, to shipping companies, and to businesses.

Bottlenecks persist due to many market inefficiencies. For example, unlike the many seamless apps in e-commerce or e-services, the logistics industry lacks such a smooth seamless booking system, which has exacerbated the disruptions.

Hence, the shortages of manpower and inefficiencies in the logistics industry have pushed companies to accelerate their digital transformation process towards smart factories/manufacturing, which includes automation and transferring workloads to the cloud. According to MarketsandMarkets, the smart factory market is expected to grow at an 11 per cent CAGR from 2021 till 2026 to US$135 billion.

The digital transformation of such industries would in turn drive demand for enterprise softwares such as cloud, software, cyber security and database management, which makes up a total of 44 per cent of the O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF.

In the near-term, supply chain disruptions should continue to impact Internet companies as goods are delayed. But, in the long-term, we expect these disruptions to spur companies towards digital transformation, reiterating our thesis about the digital economy becoming an ever more significant aspect of economies.

Cloud & SaaS to grow more than double the rate of other digital economy segments

Automation to drive digital transformation

Wages in the US on the rise

Maintain neutral on near-term risks

To sum up, in the long-term we are positive on the digital economy. Digital transformation of corporates and industries is expected to be a growth driver for the digital economy, and we like that the O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF gives higher exposure to attractive segments such as enterprise software.

It is for this reason we recommend investors to include the digital economy as part of their core allocation.

However, US big-tech stocks have reached record highs as companies continued to beat earnings estimates, pushing valuations to a record high. While share prices of Internet companies have come down recently, as of February 16, 2022, the O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF is still trading at 44X 2023 earnings, suggesting that it is more or less fairly valued based on the fair PE multiple of 45-times we have assigned for this sector.

The strong earnings growth seen over the past year may be difficult to sustain in the coming quarters. This, coupled with regulatory risks, and a rising interest rate environment may limit the upside of Internet companies in the near-term and hence we maintain a 2.5 Stars neutral rating for the digital economy.

Investors who have yet to include the digital economy in their portfolios but wish to do so at this point may consider using a regular savings plan, before switching to a lump sum investment should valuations come down even further. This will ensure that they buy more units when prices are low and less when prices are high, bringing the weighted average cost down.

For investors looking for actively managed funds to gain exposure to the digital economy, you may consider the TA Global Technology Fund.

Source: The Borneo Post

Digital Economy: Long-term growth, but limited upside

Since the valuation of the US tech sector fell and the Chinese technology stocks were hit by regulatory and other policy factors, the Asian technology sector has become increasingly attractive.

It is expected that this sector would be led by the new economy and semiconductor stocks. Asian semiconductor is a sector you should watch out for.

This sector covers semiconductor companies in various regions, including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China and so on. Companies from these regions have their own competitive advantages in the industrial chain.

For instance, South Korea is home to the world’s leading memory chip manufacturers. Also, it has a considerable-scale foundry business.

Japan has advantages in semiconductors in terms of raw materials and equipment, while its strength in automotive chip manufacturing should not be ignored as well.

Taiwan is a world leader in semiconductor manufacturing, and it dominates the foundry market at over 50 per cent of the global market share.

At the same time, the rise of China’s semiconductor industry is just around the corner with the policy support from the Chinese government.

It is undeniable that Asia plays a pivotal role in the global semiconductor industrial chain.

Looking back at last year’s performance, FactSet Asia Semiconductor Index, which represents the Asian Semiconductor Sector, significantly outperformed the MSCI Asian Index by 24.9 percentage points.

As the earnings growth of Asian semiconductor companies remains strong this year, we expect this sector to remain strong and beat the overall Asian equity market. As such, investing in ETF is a good way to tap into this sector.

In this article, we will talk about Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF (3119.HK), the only ETF related to Asian Semiconductor on HKEX.

Chart shows the top 10 holdings and geographic breakdown.

Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF focusing on Asian semiconductors

Currently, Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF is the only ETF focusing on the Asian Semiconductor industry listed on HKEX.

Issued by Mirae Asset Global Investment Group on 23 July 2021, Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF primarily uses a full replication strategy to track FactSet Asia Semiconductor Index.

This index was launched on June 29, 2021 with a base date set on 24 March 2017. It is designed to track the performance of companies in Asian regions that derive the majority of their revenues (revenue exposure with more than 50 per cent) from a semiconductor-related industry and demonstrate “Market Leadership”.

As to the definition of “Market Leadership”, the index provider, FactSet, makes use of its RBICS Focus System for stock selection. Besides, these companies should generate USD 10 billion or more revenue in the latest fiscal year or rank among the global top five in a segmented semiconductor sector in terms of USD revenue.

Currently, this index holds 39 stocks, but the top 10 holdings take up 68.2 per cent in total, which means it has a relatively concentrated investment.

The top 10 holdings shows the feature of this index again: an overview of market-leading semiconductor companies from key Asian regions (China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan).

There are four iconic companies from Japan, which includes: Sony – a leader in image sensor technology, Tokyo Electron – one of the top three semiconductor equipment makers globally, as well as Shin-Etse and HOYA – global leaders in upstream semiconductor materials.

Three companies come from Taiwan, which are: TSMC–the largest market share in the foundry business, United Microelectronics – the local status of foundry business only second to TSMC, and MediaTeck – one of the two major suppliers in smartphone SoC (system on chip).

South Korea has two well-known companies in the top holdings and they are familiar to the investors, which are: Samsung and SK Hynix – they take up 74 per cent of the DRAM market shares in the world, also with a sizable NAND market share.

There is also a Chinese company LONGi, which is the world’s leading photovoltaic product manufacturer.

As for the geographic breakdown, Japan occupies the largest portion of the index (30.28 per cent), followed by China (26.14 per cent), Taiwan (25.20 per cent) and South Korea (18.36 per cent), which is quite balanced.

It is not hard to understand why the portion of Japan is the largest.

Japan’s strengths in semiconductors are in raw material, equipment and integrated device manufacturer with matured development.

Although China’s global market share remains relatively low at the moment, it may catch up soon with strong national policy support. It will see strong potential growth.

Chart shows performance comparison.

Index performance

As this ETF is newly established, we cannot analyse its track record in detail. However, based on the long-term accumulative returns of its tracking index, the FactSet Asia Semiconductor Index, the performance is exponential.

From Chart 2, as at December 31, 2021, the accumulative return rate stood at 170.5 per cent since March 24, 2017, outperforming MSCI AC Asian Technology Index (138.4 per cent) and MSCI Asia Index (32.6 per cent).

Global digital transformation has been accelerated by the breakout of Covid-19. Meanwhile, the semiconductor industry is probably the most crucial sector in technology development, which has a structural growth in the past two years.

Thus, this index records an exponential growth in 2020 (48.03 per cent) and 2021 (21.26 per cent), significantly outcompeting MSCI Asia Index’s 17.88 per cent and minus 3.67 per cent at the same period.

Table shows calendar year performance of indexes.

Conclusion

Currently, Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF’s ongoing charges over a year are 0.68 per cent. As at January 27, 2021, its total net asset value has reached HK$124 million over half a year since the launch date on 23 July, which is quite favoured by investors.

However, the ETF’s top 10 holdings take up a large proportion of the ETF, which means that it has high concentration risks. Also, its average daily trading volume is relatively small.

Despite the abovementioned disadvantages, investors who are optimistic about the future of the Asian semiconductor industry and intend to invest in ETF, investing in Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF, which tracks the FactSet Asia Semiconductor Index, would be a great choice.

Source: The Borneo Post

Asian semiconductor is a sector you should watch out for

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and ASEAN inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed to accelerate the region’s digital transformation by better managing some of the associated and growing risks, challenges and disruptions.

The MoU was signed in conjunction with the Ministerial Conference on the OECD Southeast Asia Regional Programme (SEARP) in Seoul, South Korea, which was held in hybrid format on Wednesday (Feb 9).

Through the MoU, OECD and ASEAN will assess the connectivity divides in Southeast Asia to facilitate improvements in the quality of broadband services across the region.

According to the OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann, during the pre-pandemic era, Southeast Asia was one of the fastest growing digital economies with the number of digital consumers growing from 90 million in 2015 to 250 million in 2018.

It increased further to 300 million digital consumers in 2020, turbocharged by the Covid-19 related lockdown.

Nevertheless, he noted that uptake, penetration and infrastructure in communication and information technology remained uneven across and within countries in Southeast Asia.

“Broadband for example remains more accessible and faster in urban environments than in rural and remote areas,” he said.

Building a digital future would require a coordinated whole of government approach, he said adding that this would also include investing in communication infrastructure and digital skills to narrow existing digital divides among people, regions and businesses.

He stressed the importance of investing in digital skills which will ensure everyone has the best possible opportunity to participate in and benefit from the digital economy.

Source: Bernama

OECD, ASEAN to work on accelerating region’s digital transformation

The semiconductor shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs) production in 2021, but the top 10 OEMs increased their chip spending by 25.2% and accounted for 42.1% of the total market.

In a statement on Tuesday (Feb 1), technology and consulting firm Gartner Inc research director Masatsune Yamaji said semiconductor vendors shipped more chips in 2021, but the OEMs’ demand was far stronger than the vendors’ production capacity.

Gartner said the semiconductor shortage prevented OEMs from increasing production of not just those for vehicles but also various electronic equipment types, including smartphones and video game consoles.

However, it said the chip shortage significantly increased selling prices, which meant OEMs spent much more on semiconductor procurement in 2021 than in prior years.

Yamaji said the average selling prices (ASPs) of semiconductor chips, such as microcontroller units, general-purpose logic integrated circuits, and a wide variety of application-specific semiconductors, increased by 15% or more in 2021.

“The semiconductor shortage also accelerated OEMs’ double booking and panic buying, causing a huge spike in their semiconductor spending,” he said.

Gartner said Apple and Samsung Electronics retained the top two spots since 2011 while swapping ranks through the years.

Huawei struggled to buy chips and dropped down from the No 3 spot to the No 7 position in 2021.

Other Chinese smartphone OEMs, such as BBK Electronics and Xiaomi, significantly increased their semiconductor spending as they successfully compensated for the loss of market share by Huawei in the smartphone market in 2021.

Apple remained at the top of the semiconductor spending customer ranking in 2021. Apple increased its spending on memory chips by 36.8% and on non-memory chips by 20.2% in 2021.

However, it decreased its demand for computing microprocessing units due to the shift to its own in-house-designed application processors.

Samsung Electronics increased its memory spending by 34.1% and non-memory chip spending by 23.9% in 2021.

The increase of memory spending was the result of not just a rise of memory price, but also Samsung’s growth in its target electronic equipment markets, especially the smartphone and solid-state drive markets.

Source: The Edge Markets

Top 10 semiconductor buyers increased chip spending by 25.2% in 2021, says Gartner

Global semiconductor revenue rose 25.1% in 2021 to total US$583.5 billion (about RM2.44 trillion), crossing the US$500 billion threshold for the first time.

In its preliminary results released last week, technology research and consulting firm Gartner Inc research vice-president Andrew Norwood said as the global economy bounced back in 2021, shortages appeared throughout the semiconductor supply chain, particularly in the automotive industry.

“The resulting combination of strong demand as well as logistics and raw material price increases drove semiconductors’ average selling prices higher, contributing to overall revenue growth in 2021,” he said.

Norwood added that the 5G smartphone market also helped drive semiconductor revenue, with unit production more than doubling to reach 555 million in 2021, compared with 250 million in 2020.

“US sanctions imposed on Huawei resulted in other Chinese smartphone OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) gaining share and fuelling growth for 5G chipset vendors such as Qualcomm, MediaTek and Skyworks.

“Meanwhile, HiSilicon, Huawei’s chip subsidiary, saw revenue decline from US$8.2 billion in 2020 to around US$1 billion in 2021,” he said.

Gartner added that Samsung Electronics regained the top spot from Intel for the first time since 2018, with revenue increasing 31.6% in 2021.

Its memory revenue grew 34.2% in 2021, in line with the growth rate of the overall memory market.

Intel dropped to the No. 2 position with a 0.5% growth in 2021, delivering the lowest growth rate among the top 25 vendors.  

Top 10 semiconductor vendors by revenue worldwide in 2021 (millions of US dollars)

Source: Gartner (January 2022)

Source: The Edge Markets

Global semiconductor revenue rose 25.1% in 2021, breached US$500b mark, says Gartner

The global electronic system design (ESD) industry’s revenue rose 17.1% year-over-year (y-o-y) to US$3.46 billion from US$2.95 billion in the third quarter of 2021 (3Q2021).

In a statement on its website Jan 17, US-based Semiconductor Equipment & Materials International (SEMI) cited the Electronic System Design Alliance (ESD Alliance) as saying the four-quarter moving average, which compares the most recent four quarters to the prior four, rose 16.1%.  

ESD Alliance is a SEMI technology community, an international association of companies providing goods and services throughout the semiconductor design ecosystem.

SEMI Electronic Design Market Data (EDMD) report executive sponsor Walden C Rhines said the industry reported double-digit y-o-y revenue growth for 3Q2021.

“Geographically, all regions reported double-digit growth, with product categories CAE, printed circuit board and multi-chip module, SIP, and services also showing double-digit growth,” he said.

The companies tracked in the EDMD report employed 51,182 people globally in 3Q2021, an 8.7% increase over the 3Q2020 headcount of 47,087 and up 2.4% compared to 2Q2021.

Source: The Edge Markets

Global electronic system design revenue up 17% y-o-y to US$3.46b in 3Q2021, says SEMI

Global semiconductor industry sales rose 23.5% year-on-year in November to US$49.7 from US$40.2 billion a year earlier.

In a statement on its website on Jan 3, the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said the figure was 1.5% more than the October 2021 total of US$49.0 billion.

It said the cumulative annual total of semiconductors sold through November 2021 reached 1.05 trillion, which is the industry’s highest-ever annual total.

Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organization and represent a three-month moving average.

SIA president and CEO John Neuffer said global semiconductor sales remained strong in November, increasing substantially on a year-to-year basis across all major regional markets and semiconductor product categories.

“With one month of 2021 sales data still to be reported, the industry has already set a new annual record for total semiconductor sales and units shipped, as chipmakers have substantially ramped up production to address high demand,” he said.

SIA said that regionally, year-to-year sales increased in the Americas (28.7%), Europe (26.3%), Asia-Pacific/all others (22.2%), China (21.4%), and Japan (19.5%).

Month-to-month sales increased in the Americas (4.2%), Europe (3.1%), Japan (1.1%), and Asia-Pacific/all others (0.9%), but fell slightly in China (-0.2%).

Source: The Edge Markets

Global semiconductor sales rose 23.5% y-o-y in November to US$49.7 billion, says SIA

Investment in biotech and healthcare boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic as thousands of venture capital (VC) firms turned their attention to breakthrough artificial intelligence, cancer-detection technology, mental health treatments, digital doctor visits, diagnostics and more.

In a report on Wednesday (Dec 29), Crunchbase, which tracks trends, investments and news of global companies from start-ups to the Fortune 1000, said two of those investment firms had emerged as major leaders, not only in the number of biotech funding rounds led, but also in overall dollars invested in the industry.

It said Boston-based RA Capital Management and New York-based OrbiMed ranked first and second respectively on the two lists compiled using Crunchbase data.

The report said although the two firms emerged as leaders in the data, they still made up a small part of the more than US$120 billion (about RM500.46 billion) in venture capital funds globally that poured into health and biotech start-ups as of Dec 1 this year.

Crunchbase said while health and biotech are often almost inextricably linked, it’s worth noting that of that investment, a significant portion is heading directly to companies that place themselves specifically in the biotechnology category.

Venture capital firms led most funding rounds for biotech start-ups 

The report said leading a funding round is a big undertaking.

It said the lead investor often acts as the liaison between the start-up’s founder(s) and the other participating investors, or is implicitly trusted by other investors to find the best terms for everyone.

It said these VC firms led the most funding rounds for biotech start-ups between Jan 1 and Dec 1 this year.

It said this data also illustrates the total number of biotech industry investment rounds each lead investor participated in during that time, including those rounds the firm led and those it let others lead.

Source: The Edge Markets

Investment in biotech and healthcare boomed during pandemic — data

Global renewable energy installations broke industry trends in 2021 as residential solar outpaced commercial and industrial capacity additions for the first time and new onshore wind ones declined.

According to Norway-based independent energy research and business intelligence company Rystad Energy, this year has been a record-breaker for renewables globally, with 227 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity installed, a 4.7% increase over 2020 levels.

The firm said that installed utility solar photovoltaic (PV), residential solar PV, offshore wind, battery and other forms of energy storage had all increased in additions in 2021.

It said utility battery storage set a record high, growing threefold, while new offshore wind installations doubled compared to 2020.

Rystad said hydrogen electrolyser capacity also made sizeable gains, albeit from a small starting position, reaching 0.8 GW of capacity additions, up from 0.04 GW in 2020.

Looking ahead, renewable capacity additions are expected to skyrocket to over 270 GW of installed capacity in 2022, driven primarily by solar and hydrogen expansion.

Rystad head of renewables research Gero Farruggio said the renewable energy industry is facing some of its most significant challenges yet over the short term, but the future had never looked brighter with new and aggressive commitments from governments and companies alike.

“The carbon-neutral pledges set forth at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow this year will help spur major growth in the coming years,” he said.

Rystad said driving the decline in total onshore wind is the winding down of Chinese subsidies, which are projected to cause a 40 GW drop in capacity additions for the Asian powerhouse, skewing global numbers as a result.

The firm said global onshore wind additions are expected to fall to around 85 GW in 2021, a 20 GW drop year-on-year, and a further 15 GW in 2022.

However, it said this trend will likely be short-lived from 2023 onwards as demand for renewable generation soars to achieve the capacities required for the 1.5°C target.

Source: The Edge Markets

2021 trend-breaking year for renewables, says Rystad

South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to address sticky issues in customs procedures for better implementation of their free trade agreement (FTA), the finance ministry said Monday (Dec 6).

Under the agreement, South Korean firms will be able to receive tariff benefits if they submit a copy of certificates of origin when they export goods to the 10 member states of ASEAN, according to Yonhap news agency quoting the Economy and Finance Ministry.

Korean exporters have had difficulties, as the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed international shipments of certificates of origin, it said.  

South Korea proposed that it and the economic bloc mutually approve a copy of such certificates until the pandemic is brought under control and ASEAN accepted the offer, according to the ministry.

They have decided to discuss later when they will end the measure after taking into account the virus situation.

Since the free trade deal between South Korea and ASEAN took effect in June 2007, the country’s trade with the economic bloc has more than doubled.                   

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.

ASEAN currently stands as the second-largest trading partner for South Korea, with their trade reaching US$143.8 billion in 2020, more than doubling from US$61.8 billion tallied in 2006.

Source: Bernama

South Korea, ASEAN agree to quicken customs procedure for their FTA

Global sales of semiconductors rose 24% year-on-year (y-o-y) to US$48.8 billion (about RM206.13 billion) in October 2021, said the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

In a statement on its website last Thursday (Dec 2), the SIA said the figure was 1.1% more than the September 2021 total of US$48.3 billion.

Monthly sales are compiled by the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) organisation and represent a three-month moving average.

SIA president and chief executive office John Neuffer said global semiconductor demand remained high in October, with sales increasing substantially y-o-y across all major regional markets.

“Annual chip sales and units shipped are projected to reach all-time highs in 2021, with moderate annual growth expected in 2022,” he said.

The SIA said that regionally, sales increased y-o-y and month-on-month (m-o-m) across all major regional markets, including the Americas (29.2% y-o-y; 2.6% m-o-m), Europe (27.3%; 2.8%), Japan (23.7%; 1.1%), Asia-Pacific/all others (22.6%; 0.2%) and China (21.1%; 0.3%).

Additionally, the SIA endorsed the WSTS’ fall 2021 global semiconductor sales forecast, which projects the industry’s worldwide sales to be US$553 billion in 2021, a 25.6% increase from the 2020 sales total of US$440.4 billion.

The WSTS projects y-o-y increases in Asia-Pacific (26.7%), Europe (25.6%), the Americas (24.6%) and Japan (19.5%).

In 2022, the global market is projected to post a moderate growth of 8.8% to reach US$601.5 billion in annual sales.

The WSTS tabulates its semi-annual industry forecast by gathering input from an extensive group of global semiconductor companies that provide accurate and timely indicators of semiconductor trends.

Source: The Edge Markets

Global semiconductor sales to exceed US$600b in 2022, says SIA

Prominent Malaysian entrepreneur Datuk Seri Vijay Eswaran has called for Asian economic integration, saying that Asia needs to develop as a trade bloc to be a formidable powerhouse.

This is in view that the global economy is going to shift from the West to the East post-pandemic and that the “future is going to be the Asian Millennium,” he said in a statement today.

The driving forces in Asia are  India, China, ASEAN including Malaysia, as well as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, he said recently at the annual  Horasis Asia Meeting – Asia’s premier gathering of the region’s most senior leaders from business and government.

These are regional hubs, which are fundamentally important, which is why “we should give more importance to our backyard and Asia needs to develop its own philosophy to deal with the challenges moving forward,” he said.

Speaking on the topic, Shaping the New Asia, Vijay, the executive chairman of Asian conglomerate QI Group, said it is going to be a real challenge shaping the global economy, adding that everyone is walking into a new norm post-pandemic.

He said half of the world’s population lives in Asia, where economies are growing quickly and becoming increasingly interconnected in culture, business, and trade.

A new mega trade bloc has the potential to help fuel investment in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis and provide a framework for further regional cooperation at a time of global trade tensions.

“We have to recognise that Asia is going to be leading or at least taking up half of world GDP by 2040 and this is a critically important development,” said Vijay, acknowledging a research report from McKinsey.

“I think what China has done with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a very powerful move in bringing together economies across the third world, and particularly in ASEAN, this has been noticed and welcomed.

“This has pivoted China’s impact on the world and developed new investment opportunities, cultivated export markets, and boosted Chinese income and domestic consumption, ultimately leading them to become today’s economic powerhouse,” he said.

Touching on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), he pointed out that SMEs are going to be the future, post-pandemic.

He stressed that the economic health of a nation was heavily dependent on the revival of the small and medium businesses, hence they require the most amount of protection, and financial credit schemes to keep them afloat coming out of the pandemic.

“The SMEs are the real power of the future. It is the SMEs that took the biggest hit during the pandemic and it’s the SMEs that are going to rebuild.”

“No doubt the big boys are important in bringing investments, FDIs to the various countries across Asia but we need to focus on SMEs because they are the engines of growth and they need to basically revive, renew and re-empower themselves,” he said.

Vijay also touched on the importance of promoting entrepreneurship highlighting that the pandemic has given rise to an explosion of new entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of consumer acceptance of the digital economy.

Held on Horasis’ groundbreaking digital conferencing platform on Friday, the event brought together over 400 of the foremost business and political leaders from across Asia and the world to discuss ways to overcome the profound economic, political, and social disruptions caused by COVID-19.

The QI Group has been an active member of Horasis, an international think tank since 2016.  Over the course of the Horasis Asia Meeting 2021, discussions focused on rebooting economic activity, how jobs in the region will look going forward, and how more sustainable development can occur in Asia in a post-coronavirus world.

Source: Bernama

Asia can be formidable powerhouse post-pandemic

Malaysia is of the view that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and China should work together in the fields of economy, transformation and infrastructure as well as connectivity to ensure the supply chain remains unimpeded and can continue to grow in terms of economic recovery. post-Covid-19 pandemic.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pix) said the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the comprehensive Asean-China free trade agreement could also contribute to accelerating regional recovery and resilience.

“Malaysia also encourages Asean and China to work together in the field of public health and pharmaceutical capabilities through the sharing of technology, expertise and intellectual property,“ he told a news conference on the outcome of the Asean-China Special Summit to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Asean-China Dialogue Relations, held virtually today.

The statement was delivered through Minister of Foreign Affairs, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

The summit was co-chaired by the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and China’s President Xi Jinping.

Meanwhile, when asked about Malaysia’s latest position on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with China, Saifuddin said Malaysia still holds the same standpoint despite being under different governments.

“Probably with different intensity on certain projects. But Malaysia as a whole has always been supportive of the BRI, be it under the Barisan Nasional government, Pakatan Harapan government, Perikatan Nasional government and the current government,“ he said.

Meanwhile, in a joint statement by the Asean-China special summit, it reaffirmed the commitment to the open, free, inclusive, transparent, and non-discriminatory rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core, and its readiness to make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all.

It also welcomes the entry into force of the RCEP Agreement on Jan 1, 2022 and will work together to deliver benefits to businesses and people in the region.

“Efforts will be made to effectively implement the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), and the remaining elements in the Future Work Program under the ACFTA Upgrading Protocol and to also expeditiously conduct a joint feasibility study to identify other areas for possible inclusion in further enhancing the ACFTA,“ it said.

This, it said, included by creating more trade opportunities in digital economy and fostering new sources of growth for cooperation, working towards a more inclusive, modern, comprehensive and mutually beneficial Asean-China Free Trade Area.

Besides, it will step up the implementation of the Asean-China Joint Statement on Synergising the Master Plan on Asean Connectivity (MPAC) 2025 and BRI in carrying out mutually beneficial and high-quality cooperation, and encourage support from financial institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to achieve the goal of high-standard, people-oriented, people-centred, and sustainable development.

It said it would explore synergies between the Asean Digital Masterplan 2025 and the Initiative on Building Asean-China Partnership on Digital Economy and its Action Plan and enhance cooperation in digital economy, smart city development, artificial intelligence, e-commerce, big data, 5G use cases, digital transformation, and cyber and data security while embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

It will also foster new impetus for cooperation through jointly formulating and implementing the Asean-China Plan of Action on a Closer Partnership of Science, Technology and Innovation for Future (2021-2025), explore cooperation on low-carbon, circular and green economy, sustainable development, and promote new cooperation on energy technologies as well as enhance marine ecosystem, among others.

Source: Bernama

Asean, China must work together to accelerate economic recovery

Global value chains present significant growth opportunities for developing economies even in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and their contribution to the world economy may be much larger than normally reported, according to a report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Global Value Chain Development Report 2021: Beyond Production said that with the expansion of trade in intellectual property services, global value chains have spread beyond manufacturing, presenting opportunities for more inclusive growth in developing economies. 

“Global value chains — the multicountry cross-border production networks that bring a product or service from conception to market — may be twice as large as commonly reported if the ‘missing value’ of trade in intellectual property services is taken into account,” said the report which was virtually launched on Tuesday (Nov 16).

The report was jointly published by ADB, the Research Institute for Global Value Chains at the University of International Business and Economics, the World Trade Organisation, the Institute of Developing Economies — Japan External Trade Organisation, and the China Development Research Foundation.

At the same time, the report said, that border closings and mobility restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic have exposed vulnerabilities in global value chains, contributing to product shortages and sparking discussions about “reshoring” production.

ADB president Masatsugu Asakawa said the report breaks new ground by showing that the value-added in global value chains are increasingly generated outside of manufacturing.

“As we recover from Covid-19, our enhanced new knowledge of where value is created, and how it’s shared, requires us to reinvigorate value chains in ways that increase opportunities to participate in the global economy, especially for lower-income economies and small and medium-sized businesses,” he said.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has placed global value chains under significant strain, the report said they are showing resilience and playing a life-saving role in delivering protective equipment and vaccines.

“Innovative solutions such as e-commerce and remote work were scaled up in response to the pandemic,” the report noted.

Beyond Covid-19, it said, global value chains also face risks from geopolitical tensions and climate change.

“Surveys indicate that 90% of global value chains have been affected by the combined shocks of the pandemic and trade tensions between China and the United States,” it added.

Source: Bernama

Shift in value chains beyond manufacturing can benefit developing economies, says report

Association of Southeast Asian Nations Automotive Federation data show that “about 3.5 million passenger or commercial vehicles and 4 million motorcycles or scooters were sold annually before the pandemic,” Nikkei writes. “The region is also expected to generate 140 million new consumers by 2030, with the high- and upper-middle-income ranks doubling to 57 million, according to the World Economic Forum,” CleanTechnica reported.

A few of the ASEAN countries have committed to phasing out fossil fuels — Thailand (the area’s largest auto manufacturer) by 2035, Singapore by 2040, and Indonesia by 2050. We have seen how that is playing out in Europe. 

Indonesia already has one of the world’s higher ratios of chargers to EVs, according to the International Energy Agency, and “has set a target of 2,400 charging stations and 10,000 battery swap stations by 2025. By 2030, it aims to have over 31,000 charging stations, as the government projects more than 2 million electric cars and 13 million electric motorbikes will hit the streets by that year,” CleanTechnica reported.

Thailand — the region’s largest auto production center — plans to lift output of purely electric vehicles to 50% of all car manufacturing by 2030. However, I would expect that Thailand’s EV uptake would move more rapidly since it has a domestic automaker and Australia is dependent on imports. 

Thai government is creating an EV production hub and has attracted newcomers like Great Wall Motors and Foxconn. GWM opened its first local plant in June and expects to be making EVs as early as 2023. Foxconn is planning to invest up to $2 billion to produce an EV platform, CleanTechnica reported.

Source: The Edge Markets

The EV story in Southeast Asia — CleanTechnica

There is a good possibility cross-border travel within Asean will be allowed soon when the Asean Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework(ATCAF) is implemented in stages.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, however, said the ATCAF will have to consider the stringent Standard Operating Procedurs (SOPs) to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

“It can be said that all Asean nations have touched on the need to allow travel between member countries, especially countries sharing common borders.

“We believe it will be implemented very soon, if not throughout Asean it will be done between neighbouring member states of Asean,“ he said during the press conference at the end of the 38th and 39th Asean Summits and Related Summits here on Thursday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob headed Malaysia’s delegation to the three-day virtual summits which began on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Brunei.

On Myanmar, he said the grouping valued Myanmar as a member of Asean family and Malaysia wanted to see the full implementation of the Five-point Consensus as soon as possible.

“As far as Malaysia is concerned, number one we value Myanmar’s participation as a full and active member of Asean. Number two, our priority is looking after the people of Myanmar, that is first and foremost in our mind.

“Number three, if the current situation ends up in prolonged stalemate and no decisions can be made, then we should be looking at other ways of getting the desired outcome

“We should understand that all Asean decisions on Myanmar is first and foremost about the people of Myanmar,“ he said.

Asked about the position of Asean Special Envoy to Myanmar Erywan Mohd Yusof, who is also Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister, as the Asean chairmanship will be handed over to Cambodia in 2022, he said it was not discussed during the summits, adding that he believes the regional grouping will come to that as soon as possible.

Highlighting Malaysia’s key points at the summits, Saifuddin said Malaysia underscored the need for Asean to remain united in the face of many challenges and to ensure Asean Centrality remains the guiding principle in engagements with external partners.

He said the prime minister had highlighted several key issues including the Covid-19 Pandemic and Health Diplomacy, Myanmar’s Representation at Asean and situation in the country including the Rohingya, digital economy and cyber security as well as trilateral security pact involving Australia, United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) and South China Sea.

On pandemic, Saifuddin said the prime minister urged Asean and its dialogue partners to prepare for public health emergencies and emerging diseases through exchange of knowledge and capacity-building programmes, including by leveraging on digital technologies.

Given the impact of the pandemic where nationalism and geopolitics rivalry have shaped the response of governments and international organisations, he said Malaysia urged world leaders to relook at the existing international order and hoped that a new course forward in preparation for the next pandemic could be charted.

“Malaysia felt that a new global health security architecture needs to be developed. It is evident that the pandemic has strengthened the case for multilateralism,“ he said.

Source: Bernama

Asean expected to allow cross border travel soon — Saifuddin

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) looks forward to the implementation of the ASEAN Investment Facilitation Framework (AIFF) to facilitate the inflow of investment into the region as ASEAN steps up its efforts towards a comprehensive recovery.

Among others, the framework is intended to improve accessibility and transparency of investment measures, streamline and speed up administrative procedures and requirements, and create favourable conditions for investment in the region.

 “This is with a view to enhancing regional economic integration and allowing ASEAN to capture opportunities presented by shifts in global value chains, as well as delivering tangible benefits to stakeholders,” said ASEAN chairman Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei has chaired the 38th and 39th ASEAN summits held on Oct 26 via videoconference.

He said ASEAN also welcomed the entry into force of the ASEAN Trade in Services Agreement (ATISA) and looked forward to the timely implementation of the agreement.

Cognisant of the need to further streamline work on addressing non-tariff measures in order to facilitate trade flows in the region, Brunei welcomed the endorsement of the NTM Cost-Effectiveness Toolkit (NTM Toolkit), which aims to promote the adoption of good regulatory practices of simplifying import requirements and procedures to ultimately boost exports in the region.

“We also recognised efforts to facilitate the movement of trade in goods within the region and commended relevant officials for putting in place digital-based trade facilitation platforms.

“Encouraged by these positive developments, we looked forward to the full participation of other ASEAN member states in these initiatives.

“We also looked forward to the end-to-end test of the electronic Phytosanitary (e-Phyto) Certificate between Indonesia and Thailand in 2021.

“We urged all ASEAN member states to intensify efforts in further enhancing trade facilitation in the region through initiatives such as the ASEAN Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Mutual Recognition Arrangement (AAMRA) on a pathfinder basis.”

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said Brunei welcomed the finalisation of the mid-term review of the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan for SME Development 2016-2025 (SAP SMED 2025), the second phase of the SAP SMED 2025 implementation focusing on key elements to support micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as well as the progress made on this front, especially in facilitating MSMEs to build back better post-pandemic.

“We welcomed the launch of the ASEAN Access, which serves as a one-stop business information gateway for international-oriented businesses and the continuous effort to improve the ASEAN SME Academy.

“We encouraged the business communities in ASEAN and beyond to make full use of these resources and welcomed collaboration to strengthen ASEAN’s resources for its MSMEs,” he said.

Brunei looked forward to the finalisation of the high-level guidelines on MSMEs crisis disaster and resilience as well as the implementation of the ASEAN Collaboration Framework towards Strengthening Evidence-based MSMEs Policies.

Brunei also welcomed the initiative by the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting (AFMGM) to develop an ASEAN Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (ASEAN Taxonomy), which will be the overarching guide for all ASEAN states, complementing their respective national sustainability initiatives and serving as ASEAN’s common language for sustainable finance.

It also supported the establishment of the ASEAN Taxonomy Board (ATB) to develop, maintain and promote a multi-tiered taxonomy that will take into account ASEAN’s needs as well as international aspirations and goals.

“We recognised the importance of cross-sectoral coordination in the development of an ASEAN Taxonomy that can be adopted by ASEAN businesses and we noted the development of the ASEAN Taxonomy that will be announced at the COP26 in November 2021”.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said in supporting the regional economic recovery, Brunei reaffirmed and underscored the importance of keeping markets open, maintaining supply chain resilience, supporting MSMEs and increasing trade inter-linkages.

“In this regard, we noted the progress in the implementation of the ASEAN Plus One Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Australia and New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and South Korea as well as negotiations and discussions on the upgrade of some of the FTAs.

“We welcome the full entry into force of the ASEAN — Hong Kong, China FTA and the ASEAN — Hong Kong, China, Investment Agreement.

“We reiterated our resolve to ensure that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) remains to be ASEAN-led and driven.”

Brunei therefore, according to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, underlined its commitment to expedite the ratification process for the RCEP Agreement and looked forward to its entry into force in early January 2022.

Brunei also reaffirmed its commitment to an open, free, fair, inclusive, transparent, rules-based, and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system centred on the World Trade Organisation.

Source: Bernama

ASEAN looks forward to implement framework to facilitate investment inflow

ASEAN should start reopening and allow safe travel to revive Covid-19 pandemic-hit economies in the region, says Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha. 

Citing Thailand as an example, he said the kingdom has already opened up pilot areas under the Phuket Sandbox programme to welcome foreign tourists and will gradually open up more areas in other provinces for international tourism.

“ASEAN Travel Corridor Arrangement Framework should be utilized, with mutual recognition of vaccines and vaccine certificates to facilitate business travel, and later tourism,” he said in his intervention at the 38th and 39th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits via a videoconference on Tuesday.

Prayuth said ASEAN should  avoid unnecessary measures that might hinder the movement of goods to ensure our supply chain connectivity during the pandemic and make greater use of the intra-ASEAN market to stimulate our regional economy.

The Covid-19 crisis underlines the vulnerability of the region in coping with emerging threats that might arise beyond expectations, he said.

Prayuth added that ASEAN should further strengthen preparedness in response to emerging diseases and bolster public health security in the long run, including through promoting cooperation on research and development on vaccines to attain vaccine security and self-reliance in the region.

“Currently, Thailand is on track in the development of Covid-19 vaccines and the country is ready to cooperate with other ASEAN member states on this matter,” he said.

Prayuth reaffirmed Thailand’s commitment to jointly advancing the ASEAN Community and forging greater regional integration, so that ASEAN could continue to serve as a major driving force of the global economy and society.

Source: Bernama

ASEAN should start allowing safe travel to revive economies, says Thai PM Prayuth