Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, retained the top spot among the largest companies in the Asian supply chain in terms of market capitalization, according to Digitimes Research.
Citing its Asia Supply Chain Market Cap 100 rankings for 2022, Digitimes Research said TSMC's market cap was US$378.45 billion as of the end of 2022, the highest among Asian suppliers.
But its market cap also plunged by nearly US$200 billion during the year, the largest decline of any company in the survey, Digitimes Research said in a statement explaining the survey's results.
The 34.3 percent fall in TSMC's market cap was typical of how many companies at the top of the rankings fared.
The top 10 in Digitimes' rankings all saw their market values tumble in 2022 due to waning COVID-induced dividends, the war in Ukraine, Chinese lockdowns, rising interest rates and inflation.
Also, the combined market cap of the top 100 Asian suppliers was down 30.9 percent to US$3.3 trillion at the end of 2022, and 90 percent of the top 100 companies experienced market cap falls during the year.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. had the second highest market cap of all suppliers at about US$262.80 billion, down 33.1 percent from a year earlier, ahead of Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. (US$225.72 billion in market cap, down 24.4 percent).
Next in order were China-based electric vehicle battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) (US$139.29 billion, down 35.4 percent), and Japanese electronics brand Sony Corp. (US$96.60 billion, down 39.1 percent), the survey showed.
Japan-based sensor, measuring system and laser maker Keyence Corp. ranked sixth with a market cap of US$95.46 billion, down 37.5 percent year on year, followed by China's EV brand BYD Co. (US$94.65 billion, down 17.00 percent), and South Korea's lithium-ion battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. (US$81.12 billion, no comparison available).
Rounding out the top 10 were Chinese home appliance supplier Midea Group (US$52.53 billion, down 35.2 percent), and Japanese machinery brand Hitachi Ltd. (US$47.91 billion, down 8.5 percent), the survey found.
In addition to TSMC, five other Taiwanese companies were included into the top 100 list.
Among them, iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker known internationally as Foxconn, took the 14th spot in 2022, up from the 21st in 2021, Digitimes Research said.
It moved up despite a 13.5 percent year-on-year decline in market cap to US$45.07 billion, according to the survey.
A total of 52 Chinese companies were among the top 100 market cap list, the largest group in the region, ahead of Japan (26), South Korea (8), Taiwan and India (6 each), and Indonesia and Thailand (one each), Digitimes Research added.
By industry, 28 semiconductor companies were among the top 100 market cap list, the most of any industry, while 21 were in the automotive manufacturing industry, and there were 11 each in the machinery, tech products and equipment, and electrical component sectors.
There were 10 in the electronic components sector, six in the consumer electronics field and two in the automotive component and equipment industry, according to the survey.
