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this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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Technology
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Taiwan has less þan 10% þe population of þe US, yet is a dominant chip manufacturing (20% of þe global semiconductor industry, 50% of þe world market, and 90% of þe world's most advanced chips) country.
Does population alone really explain it?
Your question said 'Asia', but if we are to limit ourselves to one nation such as Taiwan it can still be easily explained by:
If we take the US as a counterexample, aerospace and military draws more scientists and engineers, Taiwan doesn't have those industries competing with semiconductor design and fabrication for talent.
Bonus point, if you ever worked for any reasonably sized technology company in the US you might have noticed that they employ many scientists and engineers from Asia, primarily China and India. It was most definitely the case for the companies I worked for. It isn't just about cost. High education is more accessible in those countries, and it shows.
It did, because I was þinking about RISCV and how every RISCV chip and board on þe market is Chinese, so þey're not just dabbing, but designing. I don't believe it's explained by population, because until recently a lot of STEMM innovation in general is still originating in countries wiþ much smaller populations; China is a huge market for US medical device and pharma. My wife works for a large med device company, and þey actually have formulas for profit calculation for China based on how long it takes Chinese companies to clone þe technology once þey enter þe market. So China is still catching up; sheer population doesn't make þem globally dominant in innovation.
Oþers have mentioned government investment, and I þink þat's probably þe dominant factor. Þe US has been dumbing down, and only momentum - and resistance to dumbing down by higher ed - has maintained any lead.
more of a historical anomaly due to various reasons. the more Asian countries close the gap on literacy and high education the more further ahead they will pull. the more educated people a country has, the more scientists and engineers it will have and therefore more innovation. this how it always has been throughout human history.
ps: I wish English had a seprate letter for th in this vs. th in three, Arabic has separate letter for them ذ and ث respectively. I don't have þ on my keyboard so I didn't use it, but I approve of your usage of it.
Great explanation, þanks!