South East Asia Manufacturing Ecosystem

Look down at your shoes. There is a four in five chance they were made in South East Asia. But South East Asia is not one procurement decision. It is mainly seven, and they are not interchangeable.

Malaysia Create chips after the wafer. Assembly, test and packaging, around 13% of global output, most of it within thirty minutes of Penang.

Thailand Things that move. Cars, motors, stamped metal, and roughly 80% of the world's hard disk drives (HDD).

Vietnam Volume. More than half of Samsung's global phone output, electronics manufacturing and just over half of Nike's shoes.

Singapore The difficult things. Around 20% of the world's semiconductor equipment. Nobody comes here for price. They come for tolerances.

Philippines Chip test, wire harness, aerospace electronics. And English on the shop floor, which saves more time than any cost comparison shows.

Indonesia Scale manufacturing, plus the materials underneath everything. A quarter of Nike's footwear. Two thirds of the world's nickel.

Cambodia Garments and simpler assembly, for when labour cost is the main conversation.

Salaries vary per country, per location, but one thing that is not in the brochure: everyone will say yes. Yes here often means "we have heard you", not "this is confirmed". The difference shows up around week six. Choose the country before you choose the supplier!