Can Southeast Asia pitch itself as an ‘all-in-one’ chip hub?
Source: Fortune ·
“Cultivation of semiconductor supply chains has put the region in the right place at the right time."
From the source
Southeast Asia is riding an investment boom, as a surge in chip exports pushes economies like Vietnam and the Philippines up the World Bank’s income ladder, as defined by the World Bank. Two forces are driving this surge: the AI wave and an intensifying rivalry between Washington and Beijing that has companies scrambling to diversify where they make things. Together, these trends are building a regional chip export industry worth roughly $258 billion. But Southeast Asian governments aren’t satisfied with just housing a chip foundry or a packaging facility. The region wants to be a single, integrated supply chain right as the U.S.-China rivalry threatens to split the sector in two. In 2025, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) launched the ASEAN Framework for an Integrated Semiconductor Supply Chain (AFISS). The initiative—a signature deliverable of Malaysia’s 2025 chairship—hinges on each country playing a specialized, complementary role to move up the chip value chain.…