Analysis on technical structure and competitiveness of ICT manufacturing industries

In order to analyze the technical structure and international comparative advantage of the information and communication technology (ICT) manufacturing industry, a complete set of ICT manufacturing product categories has been constructed by matching National Economical Industry Classification (GB/T4754-2017) with Harmonized System (HS) Codes, based on the relevant definitions in International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC). The proposed definition overcomes inherent defects such as inaccurate scopes, lagging data and rough categories, which are characterized by commonly utilized product-level based classification approaches. Within the given framework, this paper has designed the technology content related indicators from the perspective of production distribution, and divided ICT product categories into high-end, medium-end and low-end manufacturing classifications according to respective global shares. Then, we have calculated international market shares (IMS), revealed comparative advantages (RCA), and market penetration rates (MPR) of ICT manufacturing exports for major economies from 2010 to 2021. Finally, development characterizations of ICT manufacturing industries for China's Mainland are analyzed, and several practical suggestions are provided.