Southeast Asian nations revise semiconductor strategies as Trump's shadow looms

Analysis Multiple Southeast Asian nations – including South Korea, Japan, and Vietnam – have recently opened up on efforts to rework or amend their semiconductor strategies.

This is in part to stay competitive in a shifting geopolitical landscape, with the recent US presidential election win by Donald Trump – along with a threat of more Beijing-targeted tariffs – raising uncertainty about business with China, the US's current largest trading partner. This is bound to have knock-on effects everywhere in the industry – China's neighbors included.

South Korea's conservative ruling party, the People Power Party (PPP), is pushing for legislation that would give the semiconductor industry subsidies and an exemption from a national cap on working hours.

The nation introduced a labor policy in 2018 that capped maximum work hours to 52 – 40 hours of regular time and 12 hours of overtime.

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