The overall value of computer device exports rose by an average 27.4% for all exporting countries since 2016 when shipments of computer devices were valued at $294.9 billion. From 2019 to 2020, worldwide exports of computer devices increased by 6%.
The 5 biggest exporters of computer devices in 2020 were mainland China, Mexico, United States, Hong Kong and Germany. Collectively, that handful of computer device suppliers generated 71% of global sales. That percentage indicates that computer devices comprise a relatively concentrated international trade sector.
Among continents, international suppliers located in Asian countries sold the highest dollar worth of exported computer devices during 2020 worth overall $241.4 billion or 64.2% of the global total. In second place were European exporters at 20% while 15.5% of worldwide computer device sales originated from North America.
Smaller percentages came from Oceania (0.2%) led by Australia, Latin America (0.07%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Africa (0.06%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for computer devices is 8471. The technical label for that product category is automatic data-processing machines including magnetic or optical readers.
Computer Device Exports by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of computer devices during 2020.
- China: US$170.2 billion (45.3% of exported computer devices)
- Mexico: $31.8 billion (8.5%)
- United States: $24.8 billion (6.6%)
- Hong Kong: $24.2 billion (6.4%)
- Germany: $15.6 billion (4.2%)
- Czech Republic: $14.3 billion (3.8%)
- Netherlands: $12.6 billion (3.4%)
- Thailand: $11.7 billion (3.1%)
- Taiwan: $10.6 billion (2.8%)
- Singapore: $7.3 billion (1.9%)
- Poland: $6.2 billion (1.7%)
- Vietnam: $5.5 billion (1.5%)
- Malaysia: $5 billion (1.3%)
- United Kingdom: $4.4 billion (1.2%)
- Ireland: $4.2 billion (1.1%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 92.7% of global computer devices exported in 2020.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing computer devices exporters since 2019 were: Vietnam (up 39.4%), Taiwan (up 19.9%), Hong Kong (up 15%) and China (up 14.6%).
Those countries that posted declines in their export sales of computer devices were led by: Malaysia (down -24.8%), United Kingdom (down -10%), United States (down -3.9%), Singapore (down -3.4%) and Mexico (down -1.5%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for computer devices during 2020. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported computer device and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- China: US$136.3 billion (net export surplus up 15.6% since 2019)
- Mexico: $22.1 billion (down -0.2%)
- Thailand: $8.5 billion (up 9.1%)
- Taiwan: $6.6 billion (up 24%)
- Czech Republic: $4.8 billion (down -3.4%)
- Vietnam: $3.5 billion (up 78.4%)
- Hong Kong: $3.4 billion (up 250.9%)
- Philippines: $2.5 billion (down -35.2%)
- Malaysia: $2.4 billion (down -36.6%)
- Poland: $1.8 billion (down -24.8%)
- Hungary: $1.2 billion (up 10.6%)
- Ireland: $344.7 million (up 239%)
- Palau: $3 million (down -4.7%)
- French S./Antarctic Territories: $356,000 (up 1,219%)
- North Korea: $248,000 (down -92.6%)
Mainland China generated the highest surplus in the international trade of computer device. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms China’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for computer devices during 2020. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported computer device purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$80.2 billion (net export deficit up 22.7% since 2019)
- Japan: -$18.1 billion (up 15.8%)
- United Kingdom: -$11.8 billion (up 19.1%)
- Germany: -$11.7 billion (up 23.8%)
- Canada: -$8.4 billion (up 8.1%)
- France: -$8.1 billion (up 17%)
- India: -$7.1 billion (up 8.2%)
- South Korea: -$6.9 billion (up 22.5%)
- Australia: -$6.5 billion (up 7.8%)
- Russia: -$6.1 billion (up 15.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$4.8 billion (up 238.6%)
- Italy: -$4.4 billion (up 24.6%)
- Spain: -$3.6 billion (up 17.2%)
- Netherlands: -$3.5 billion (down -11.8%)
- Switzerland: -$2.9 billion (up 5.8%)
The United States of America accumulated the highest deficit in the international trade of computer devices. In turn, this negative cashflow confirms America’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for computer device-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful demand.
Companies
Computer Device Exporting Companies
Below are global computer device-making businesses that represent established players engaged in the international computer device trade. The home country for each company is shown within parenthesis.
- AMAX Information Technologies (United States)
- Antec (United States)
- Aopen (Taiwan)
- ASRock (Taiwan)
- Chassis Plans (United States)
- Cooler Master (Taiwan)
- Corsair Components (United States)
- Deepcool (China)
- Dell (United States)
- Elitegroup Computer Systems (Taiwan)
- Foxconn Technology Group (Taiwan)
- Fractal Design (Sweden)
- Lenovo Group Ltd (China)
- Micro-Star International (Taiwan)
- Shuttle Inc (Taiwan)
- SilverStone Technology (Taiwan)
- Zalman (South Korea)
Searchable List of Computer Device Exporting Countries in 2020
The 100 key suppliers showcased in the following automated database generated 99.98% of all exports of computer devices during 2020.
| Rank | Exporter | Computer Device Exports (US$) | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | China | $170,176,156,000 | +14.6% |
| 2. | Mexico | $31,823,594,000 | -1.5% |
| 3. | United States | $24,776,333,000 | -3.9% |
| 4. | Hong Kong | $24,230,259,000 | +15% |
| 5. | Germany | $15,644,560,000 | +4.1% |
| 6. | Czech Republic | $14,347,836,000 | +8.2% |
| 7. | Netherlands | $12,592,374,000 | +14.4% |
| 8. | Thailand | $11,694,699,000 | -1.4% |
| 9. | Taiwan | $10,599,606,000 | +19.9% |
| 10. | Singapore | $7,320,863,000 | -3.4% |
| 11. | Poland | $6,235,842,000 | +3.4% |
| 12. | Vietnam | $5,532,018,000 | +39.4% |
| 13. | Malaysia | $4,975,711,000 | -24.8% |
| 14. | United Kingdom | $4,373,206,000 | -10% |
| 15. | Ireland | $4,163,828,000 | +1% |
| 16. | Hungary | $3,526,748,000 | +11.8% |
| 17. | Philippines | $3,338,768,000 | -28.8% |
| 18. | France | $2,195,843,000 | -10.3% |
| 19. | Sweden | $1,827,374,000 | -3.8% |
| 20. | Italy | $1,750,380,000 | -6.2% |
| 21. | Japan | $1,584,402,000 | -6.7% |
| 22. | Canada | $1,468,903,000 | -11.3% |
| 23. | Belgium | $1,210,737,000 | -6.6% |
| 24. | Slovakia | $1,181,017,000 | +6.5% |
| 25. | Denmark | $1,180,708,000 | +14.7% |
| 26. | Spain | $774,616,000 | +4% |
| 27. | Austria | $731,728,000 | -8.6% |
| 28. | Greece | $689,167,000 | -8.9% |
| 29. | South Korea | $655,193,000 | -37.7% |
| 30. | Australia | $649,294,000 | -5.7% |
| 31. | Switzerland | $584,044,000 | -6.3% |
| 32. | Israel | $579,728,000 | +1.2% |
| 33. | Lithuania | $312,773,000 | +5.8% |
| 34. | Norway | $267,296,000 | -1.3% |
| 35. | Finland | $254,548,000 | -15.4% |
| 36. | Indonesia | $242,271,000 | +2.7% |
| 37. | Bulgaria | $206,032,000 | +2.5% |
| 38. | Romania | $201,095,000 | +33.7% |
| 39. | Russia | $195,350,000 | -52.8% |
| 40. | United Arab Emirates | $188,024,000 | -95.7% |
| 41. | Latvia | $176,235,000 | +26% |
| 42. | South Africa | $163,539,000 | -7.2% |
| 43. | India | $147,934,000 | -18.3% |
| 44. | Portugal | $112,164,000 | +12.4% |
| 45. | Chile | $110,526,000 | +54% |
| 46. | Turkey | $72,447,000 | -10.5% |
| 47. | Slovenia | $64,021,000 | -11.8% |
| 48. | Croatia | $55,877,000 | +31% |
| 49. | Panama | $49,698,000 | -28.3% |
| 50. | Luxembourg | $48,648,000 | -18.7% |
| 51. | Brazil | $47,443,000 | -60.8% |
| 52. | Estonia | $47,333,000 | +25.5% |
| 53. | Serbia | $41,738,000 | +16.9% |
| 54. | New Zealand | $34,055,000 | -13.7% |
| 55. | Belarus | $33,150,000 | +51.1% |
| 56. | Ukraine | $19,880,000 | +67.7% |
| 57. | Tunisia | $16,944,000 | +224% |
| 58. | Dominican Republic | $14,806,000 | +10.9% |
| 59. | Cyprus | $10,999,000 | +63.2% |
| 60. | Jordan | $10,417,000 | -52% |
| 61. | Qatar | $10,243,000 | -36.9% |
| 62. | Kazakhstan | $9,402,000 | +2.2% |
| 63. | Bahrain | $9,090,000 | -75.9% |
| 64. | Lebanon | $8,858,000 | +22% |
| 65. | Egypt | $7,472,000 | +373500% |
| 66. | Morocco | $7,230,000 | +23.1% |
| 67. | Peru | $6,799,000 | +47.5% |
| 68. | Colombia | $6,345,000 | -23.4% |
| 69. | Kenya | $6,121,000 | +25.3% |
| 70. | Costa Rica | $5,749,000 | -7% |
| 71. | Macao | $5,006,000 | +95.9% |
| 72. | Cameroon | $4,819,000 | +173.5% |
| 73. | Azerbaijan | $4,560,000 | +258.5% |
| 74. | Argentina | $4,415,000 | -45.1% |
| 75. | Iceland | $4,200,000 | +49.4% |
| 76. | North Macedonia | $3,913,000 | +12.6% |
| 77. | Palau | $3,798,000 | +4.4% |
| 78. | Armenia | $3,219,000 | +9.3% |
| 79. | Mauritius | $3,207,000 | -21.7% |
| 80. | Bolivia | $2,662,000 | +799.3% |
| 81. | Uganda | $2,525,000 | -49.7% |
| 82. | Kyrgyzstan | $2,487,000 | +1010% |
| 83. | Namibia | $2,479,000 | -69.5% |
| 84. | Ecuador | $2,402,000 | +41.1% |
| 85. | Malta | $2,383,000 | -5.5% |
| 86. | Guatemala | $2,123,000 | +12.6% |
| 87. | Georgia | $2,055,000 | -5.6% |
| 88. | Oman | $1,968,000 | +176.8% |
| 89. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $1,768,000 | -13% |
| 90. | Pakistan | $1,672,000 | -65.4% |
| 91. | Moldova | $1,521,000 | +67.9% |
| 92. | Greenland | $1,488,000 | +1808% |
| 93. | Kuwait | $1,457,000 | -61.5% |
| 94. | Laos | $1,456,000 | -53.1% |
| 95. | Iran | $1,407,000 | -25.9% |
| 96. | Myanmar | $1,346,000 | -34.3% |
| 97. | Brunei Darussalam | $1,172,000 | +54.6% |
| 98. | El Salvador | $1,157,000 | -42.3% |
| 99. | Cambodia | $1,150,000 | -93% |
| 100. | Albania | $1,137,000 | +98.8% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2019 data is unavailable.
See also Electronic Circuit Component Exports by Country, Computer Accessories Exports by Country and Top Importers of Laptop Computers Ranked by Dollar Value
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 27, 2021
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 27, 2021
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 27, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 27, 2021
Wikipedia, List of computer hardware manufacturers. Accessed on July 27, 2021
