Technology
Graphene: The Game-Changing Material of the Future
Technology is only as good as the materials it is made from.
Much of the modern information era would not be possible without silicon and Moore’s Law, and electric cars would be much less viable without recent advances in the material science behind lithium-ion batteries.
That’s why graphene, a two-dimensional supermaterial made from carbon, is so exciting. It’s harder than diamonds, 300x stronger than steel, flexible, transparent, and a better conductor than copper (by about 1,000x).
If it lives up to its potential, graphene could revolutionize everything from computers to energy storage.
Graphene: Is It the Next Wonder Material?
The following infographic comes to us from 911Metallurgist, and it breaks down the incredible properties and potential applications of graphene.
While the properties and applications of graphene are extremely enticing, there has one big traditional challenge with graphene: the cost of getting it.
The Ever-Changing Graphene Price
As you can imagine, synthesizing a material that is one atom thick is a process that has some major limitations. Since a sheet of graphene 1 mm thick (1/32 of an inch) requires three million layers of atoms, graphene has been quite cost-prohibitive to produce in large amounts.
Back in 2013, Nature reported that one micrometer-sized flake of graphene costed more than $1,000, which made graphene one of the most expensive materials on Earth. However, there has been quite some progress in this field since then, as scientists search for the “Holy Grail” in scaling graphene production processes.
By the end of 2015, Deloitte estimated that the market price per gram was close to $100. And today, graphene can now be ordered straight from a supplier like Graphenea, where multiple products are offered online ranging from graphene oxide (water dispersion) to monolayer graphene on silicon wafers.
One producer, NanoXplore, even estimates that graphene is now down to a cost of $0.10 per gram for good quality graphene, though this excludes graphene created through a CVD process (recognized as the highest level of quality available for bulk graphene).
The following graphic from Nature (2014) shows some methods for graphene production – though it should be noted that this is a quickly-changing discipline.
As the price of graphene trends down at an impressive rate, its applications will continue to grow. However, for graphene to be a true game-changer, it will have to be integrated into the supply chains of manufacturers, which will still take multiple years to accomplish.
Once graphene has “real world” applications, we’ll be able to see what can be made possible on a grander scale.
Technology
Ranked: The World’s Top 10 Electronics Exporters (2000-2021)
Here are the largest electronics exporters by country, highlighting how electronics trade has increasingly shifted to Asia over 20 years.

Top 10 Electronics Exporters in the World (2000-2021)
From personal computers to memory chips, the electronics trade plays a vital role in the world economy. In 2021, global electronics exports reached $4.1 trillion according to McKinsey Global Institute.
This graphic shows the 10 largest electronics exporters in the world, based on data from McKinsey, and how they’ve changed since 2000.
Ranked: The Top 10 Exporters of Electronics
Which countries are the leading exporters of electronics, and how has this shifted over the last two decades?
Rank | Country | Share of Total 2021 | Share of Total 2000 |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇨🇳 China | 34% | 9% |
2 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 11% | 6% |
3 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 7% | 5% |
4 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 5% | N/A |
5 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 5% | 5% |
6 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 4% | 13% |
7 | 🇺🇸 United States | 4% | 16% |
8 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 4% | 5% |
9 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 3% | 3% |
10 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | 3% | N/A |
Other | 20% | 30% |
We can see in the above table how global electronics trade has become more concentrated in Asia, specifically China and Taiwan. As an electronics powerhouse, 34% of the world’s electronic goods in 2021 came from China, representing $1.4 trillion in value.
Home to leading firms like TSMC, Taiwan also plays a major role due to its prowess in semiconductor manufacturing—highlighting the island’s global importance.
But not all of Asia has been thriving. In 2000, Japan was a global electronics powerhouse responsible for 13% of the industry’s exports, but has seen its share shrink to 4% in 2021. The U.S. has also sheen its electronics lead shrink, with exports down from 16% of the global total in 2000 to just 4% in 2021.
Several factors have driven this shift. Instead of manufacturing electronics domestically, the U.S. has outsourced technology to countries where manufacturing, production, and labor costs are lower. However, recently, the U.S. is focusing on reshoring semiconductor production specifically given its role in national security, as seen through the $52.7 billion CHIPS Act.
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