Decades of investment from wealthy economies into lower-cost locations have entrenched geographical shifts in manufacturing.
Production of semiconductors — the essential components of our digital infrastructure, vehicles and devices — has steadily declined in the west, with East Asia emerging as the main manufacturing hub.
The US’s share of global semiconductor manufacturing capacity fell from 37 per cent in 1990 to just 12 per cent last year, while Europe saw a 35 percentage point decline in the period, to 9 per cent. China’s mainland expanded its share from almost nothing to 15 per cent, a figure that is expected to rise to 24 per cent in the next decade.