For the US, which is still firmly on an economic and manufacturing ascent, strong fiscal stimulus in the form of landmark legislature have continued to spur industrial development and innovation, namely the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science (Chips) Act and Inflation Reduction Act. The capital injection of these bills, worth a total of US$780 billion ($1.06 trillion), have fuelled a surge in factory construction, revving up the American manufacturing engine.
Amid the cross-currents of a US economy that is still running hot, a Chinese economy that is losing steam, and an overall shift towards a greener economy, the Asean economic landscape is undergoing a significant transformation. Driven by these structural forces of geopolitics and a green transition, manufacturing investments in the region have been increasing in the past several years, says a Asean Economics report by Maybank Research published on Sept 1.
Maybank’s team of economists — Chua Hak Bin, Erica Tay, Brian Lee and Luong Thu Huong — believe Asean could be on the “cusp of a green manufacturing renaissance”. Their report highlights the region’s growing role as a hub for clean mobility and renewable energy, in a geo-economic landscape painted with the tense brush of economic giants on different trajectories.
