JEITA Chairman Satoshi Tsunakawa looks ahead at the electronic and information technology industry: Record-high positive growth in both 2021 and 2022

On December 17, Representative Director and Chairman Satoshi Tsunakawa of Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) (Toshiba Representative Executive Officer, President, and CEO) held a press conference to discuss the prospects of global production in the electronic information industry and carbon neutrality trends. He stated that global production is predicted to be $336 trillion in FY2021, which is an 11% increase over the preceding year and a new record, while 2022 will also see positive growth and a 2% increase, setting another new record. Domestic production is also expected to turn positive for the first time in four years in 2021, with positive growth continuing in 2022.

To clarify the production in the global electronic information industry through data and to grasp the position of Japanese companies in the world, JEITA annually compiles prospects for global and domestic production in the electronic information industry with the cooperation of relevant companies and organizations in Japan and overseas based on a questionnaire survey of member companies. Chairman Tsunakawa explained the situation and prospects as follows. "Global production in the electronic information industry in 2021 was expected to increase significantly to $3.3602 trillion, or 11% compared with the previous year. This is attributable to high growth in televisions, smartphones, and servers due to the advancement of digitalization of IT and remote services, as well as to increases in solution services accompanying the growth of electronic component devices and more sophisticated data use as TVs become bigger and data centers become more powerful. Although there remains a sense of uncertainty about the renewed spread of COVID-19 in 2022, global production is expected to increase by 5% to $3.54trillion compared to the previous year, setting another record. This is due to an increase in demand for solution services and telecommunications equipment as a result of the development of digital infrastructures, such as IT, remote, and 5G services, as countries try to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and achieve carbon neutrality." Broken down by product category, the company expects sales of solution services, telecommunications equipment, electronic components, display devices, and semiconductors to hit record highs in 2022.

Regarding trends among Japanese companies, he stated, "The 2021 global production value of Japanese companies, including overseas production, was expected to increase by 8% year-on-year to ¥37.3 trillion. This is attributable to the strong performance of televisions, printers, medical electronic equipment, and other products, mainly due to the demand for home applications in Japan and around the world. Electronic components, semiconductors, and wireless communications equipment were also affected by increased exports due to the progress of digitalization. Domestic production is also expected to increase by 11% year-on-year to ¥10.9 trillion, the first positive change in four years since 2017." Looking at 2022, along with efforts to decarbonize, Japanese companies are expected to increase their global production by 2% year-on-year to ¥38.15 trillion and their domestic production by 2% year-on-year to ¥11.1614 trillion. This is due to expected growth in demand in line with digital reforms as a source of new value, such as data linkages and automation.

Next, he discussed trends in carbon neutrality (trend survey on focus areas). "With the COVID-19 pandemic, digitalization is advancing at a considerable pace, permeating not only the smartphone-based BtoC field but also the educational field and the BtoB field. So where will digitalization strike next? We believe it will be carbon neutrality." He said that the key to achieving carbon neutrality is "Green × Digital", which incorporates a digital dimension. Moreover, to realize the government's "2050 Carbon Neutrality" declaration, the IT and electronics industry must make full use of the potential of the digital to contribute to problem solving and building a sustainable society that is considerate of the global environment. In addition, focusing on "Green × Digital" for the realization of carbon neutrality as a focus area trend, he picked five digital fields that contribute to decarbonization and explained the results of summarizing the global demand forecast until 2030 as an index to visualize potential CO₂ reduction and social implementation.

According to those figures, to achieve the 2030 CO₂ emissions target of 21.15 billion tons, efforts need to be made to reduce emissions by an additional 15.12 billion ton worldwide compared with scenarios announced by national governments. The reduction targets are 6.61 billion tons in the power generation categories and 8.51 billion tons in the non-power generation categories. He said that the non-power generation reduction targets are for areas where reduction is possible by social transformation through the digital and the effective use and optimization of energy. Regarding the five digital fields that can be expected to contribute to reducing CO₂ through digital technology, electrification, automation, energy conservation, and promotion of behavioral transformation are major factors that can contribute to solving social issues. In addition, he said that they have selected the five fields of "EV/autonomous driving," "IT and remote services," "energy management," "smart agriculture and forestry," and "social infrastructure monitoring" after considering aspects such as resolving labor shortages due to the declining birthrate and aging population as well as security and safety. He also explained that they have calculated the impact of these five digital fields in terms of contributing to decarbonization, projecting a CO₂ savings potential of 5.59 billion tons by 2030. This corresponds to 66% of the reduction target of 8.51 billion tons for the non-power generating categories. From this it is evident that the contributions of the digital are extremely large. Furthermore, he explained that the implementation of "Green × Digital" in society is extremely important for the promotion of decarbonization action in society as a whole as well as that they have calculated demand as an index to visualize social implementation.

The "Green × Digital" target market, which should maximize the CO₂ reduction potential of the five digital fields, is expected to grow at an annual average of 14.4%, reaching a global demand of 335 trillion yen by 2030. The breakdown is 98.3 trillion yen in the EV/Autonomous Drive field, 176.9 trillion yen in the IT and remote services field, 29.8 trillion yen in the Energy Management field, 15.8 trillion yen in the Smart Agriculture and Forestry field, and 14.0 trillion yen in the Social Infrastructure Monitoring field.