ABSTRACT
China’s increasing participation in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Global Value Chain (GVC) is related to modularization of product architecture, globalization of production, and outsourcing and offshoring of manufacturing. This chapter presents the involvement of China-based companies in the ICT GVC through synthesizing evidence from international trade data. It focuses on firm-level trade data, our interpretation of trends revealed by these data is also influenced by interviews with the management of foreign multinational technology companies in Shanghai between 2009 and 2017. As the design of ICT products such as the personal computer, mobile handset and tablet became more modular, each product consisted of multiple modules with a product architecture that specifies which modules are part of the system and their specific functions. Korean Own Brand Manufacturers were outstanding in being responsible for both imports and exports, with the key company being Samsung and its subsidiaries.
