Abstract
Southeast Asia has been improving its international position as a base for manufacturing plants producing electrical machinery and electronics and many countries in the region have specialized in specific fields of business. In Singapore, the region’s high-tech leader, engineers are abundant, and the country has successfully attracted foreign makers of semiconductors and liquid-crystal displays. Malaysia follows Singapore, centering on the audiovisual field, and is highly valued as a country with expertise in producing electronics components. Indonesia serves as an assembly base, making the most of its low labor costs, while the Philippines, where English is used as an official language, has become a base for information-related products such as hard-disk drives and software. Thailand has fewer engineers than Singapore and Malaysia, but an abundant supply of line workers, a large domestic market, a higher average national income than Indonesia and the Philippines, and political stability; these factors have established Thailand as a production base for consumer-electronics products. In the past several years, investment in the region has centered on Thailand due to the political turmoil in Indonesia and the Philippines. Though the largest export category of Thailand is information technology (IT)-related appliances and parts, the export value of such products has fallen. In contrast, exports of home appliances have continued to climb. They will likely support the Thai economy to some extent, though the outlook depends partly on future demand.