China filed a dispute with the WTO in an effort to overturn US-imposed export controls, which aim to limit the Asian nation’s ability to develop a domestic semiconductor industry and equip its military. Beijing accused Washington of economic protectionism, undermining trade rules and jeopardizing the global supply chain.
Bloomberg
The US has pressured allies from Seoul to Tokyo to go along with the restrictions on China. Taipei’s goal in seeking to join the WTO negotiations is to better understand how the dispute may affect global semiconductors, Taiwan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said in a statement Friday.
First of all, the WTO is not going to be able to enforce any decision against the US. Secondly, there is an obvious impact being felt by China’s semiconductor companies. Thirdly, the US Chips and Sciences Act has spurred massive investment in fabs in the region. Finally, we are still looking at a slowdown in semiconductor sales this year and the outlook is kind of dim. The knock-on effects of all this is going to hit every sector of tech.
We are in forecasting purgatory where it could be doom or gloom, or this may just be a post-pandemic realignment or necessary correction to the economy after a weird three years of anything goes. What that does is create entrenchment, fear and loathing. Layoffs in tech, holding off on investment in technology, and general buyer fatigue seems to be the norm right now. However, this is not the first time this has happened, the 2001 Internet crash after a Y2K boom period for tech investment was pretty rough for anyone who was in the eye of the storm. What was noticeable then, and should be taken to hear now, is that if you can, you get aggressive.
It’s going to be as if a stun grenade was dropped into a crowded room. But, you may have the ability to recover your senses quicker than most. Being aggressive in going after market share and marketing yourself at this particular point is probably the point at which you can create the most impact with the least resistance from competitors. It may sound counter-intuitive, but by the third quarter of this year, we should expect to see an uptick in attitudes, if not markets.
