After the economic recession caused last year by COVID-19, the lingering pandemic has not prevented the world economy from continuing to recover in 2021. In its October 2021 World Economic Outlook, the IMF is forecasting a real economic growth rate of 5.9% this year and 4.9% for 2022. In Japan, COVID-19 countermeasures, fiscal stimulus, and the resumption of economic activities should keep our economic recovery on track.
Given the economic environment, in the annual industries survey conducted by JEITA, production by the global electronics and information technology industries is estimated to increase 11% year on year in 2021 to reach $3,360.2 billion, and 5% year on year in 2022 to record $3,536.6 billion. Positive growth is expected to continue on the back of greater demand for solution services and electronic components and devices as countries around the world boost their digitalization investment in response to the need to achieve carbon neutrality and to stop the spread of COVID-19.
In this environment, taking ‘digital’ as our key focus, JEITA is evolving into an industrial association that brings together companies from a broad spectrum of industries using digital technologies to lead the realization of ‘Society 5.0,’ a super-smart society in which ubiquitous network connectivity and data-sharing enable broader participation in value creation. We will continue to do our utmost to build a sustainable and safe society that ensures its citizens’ peace of mind.
In our twelfth “Trends Survey of Focused Areas,” JEITA took up the theme of “Realizing Carbon Neutrality through Green x Digital,” by which we mean using digital innovation to achieve a green transition. The survey identified five “Green x Digital” target markets where digitalization can contribute to reduced carbon emissions, indicating the carbon emissions reduction potential and world demand forecasts for these. A future vision of the “Green x Digital” contribution to specific use cases was also presented.
Global production by Japanese electronics and IT companies has continued to decrease since the $479.8 billion recorded in 2011, with the $343.6 billion figure for 2021 representing only around 70% of the 2011 level. Looking at changes in share during this period, where Japanese electronics and IT companies enjoyed a 19% share of total world production in 2011, in 2021 that share is expected to sit at 10%. Factors behind the drop include intensified competition from foreign companies, shrinkage in the AV market itself due to the widespread uptake of Internet streaming services, and the limited growth of Japanese companies in the global high-growth areas of smartphones and solution services.
In 2021, the electronics and IT industries enjoyed a surge in server and semiconductor sales as the shift to telework drove network augmentation and demand for 5G smartphones, while consumers stuck at home replaced their televisions with large-screen 4K models and data centers were beefed up to deal with spiking data volumes. Underpinned also by the strong performance of solution services due to more automated and increasingly sophisticated data utilization, total global production by the electronics and IT industries (total of electronics industry and IT solution services) is expected to record a rise of 11% year on year in 2021 to $3,360.2 billion. Of this total, production by the electronics industry (hardware, including electronic equipment, components and devices) is expected to grow 13% year on year to $2,277.6 billion.
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In 2021, the electronics and IT industries enjoyed a surge in server and semiconductor sales as the shift to telework drove network augmentation and demand for 5G smartphones, while consumers stuck at home replaced their televisions with large-screen 4K models and data centers were beefed up to deal with spiking data volumes. Underpinned also by the strong performance of solution services due to more automated and increasingly sophisticated data utilization, total global production by the electronics and IT industries (total of electronics industry and IT solution services) is expected to record a rise of 11% year on year in 2021 to $3,360.2 billion. Of this total, production by the electronics industry (hardware, including electronic equipment, components and devices) is expected to grow 13% year on year to $2,277.6 billion.
