Innovation & the four Asian Tigers: a historical perspective

Source: Asian Tigers — collective term for the the high-growth economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

TSMC has been in the news recently. Their presence in the global technology market is indispensable . Basically anything to do with data processing relies on their technology, which in today’s day and age is everything.

The above article quite comprehensively covers on what makes TSMC great. And as the graph indicates — along with Samsung, they are the only ones competing in the most cutting edge scale (<10nm).

Source: TSMC: how a Taiwanese chipmaker became a linchpin of the global economy

However, it is also important be cognizant of history, which is pretty fascinating — especially on how the Asian Tiger economies in the late 20th century dominated the microelectronics value chain & continue to do so. Three slides in a nutshell cover the innovation strategies adopted by Asian countries (with South Korea in focus).

Innovation Process: USA vs Korea

Linear Model of Innovation

Innovation Phases: electronics industry in Korea

Path to technological domination

More recently, China has taken over as the factory of the world. On top of that, Shenzhen has been touted as the Silicon Valley of hardware in a thrilling documentary. OPM (Original Planning Manufacturer) is coined as an interesting terminology, which refers to facilitation of an ecosystem of rapid prototyping and open innovation.

Innovation Model: OEMs vs TNC

Key differences in approach

Ref: Technology, Learning, and Innovation: Experiences of Newly Industrializing Economies by Linsu Kim, Richard R. Nelson