Asia’s Biopharma Manufacturing Landscape Is Changing. Where Are the New Hubs Emerging?

Asia’s biopharmaceutical manufacturing landscape is becoming increasingly diverse.

The region was once discussed largely in terms of manufacturing cost, production capacity and its growing contribution to global pharmaceutical supply chains. Today, those factors remain important, but they tell only part of the story.

Across Asia, individual markets are developing increasingly distinct roles within the biopharma value chain. South Korea continues to expand its large-scale biologics capabilities. Singapore is strengthening its position in high-value and advanced manufacturing. China is connecting a growing innovation ecosystem with extensive development and production capabilities. India is moving further into complex biologics, while Japan continues to build expertise around advanced therapies.

At the same time, Southeast Asian markets including Thailand and Vietnam are developing capabilities of their own.

What is emerging is therefore not a single manufacturing centre for Asia, but a broader network of specialised biopharma ecosystems.

South Korea has become an important global location for large-scale biologics manufacturing, with Songdo at the centre of much of this development.

The cluster brings together significant mammalian biologics manufacturing capacity alongside manufacturers, technology providers, suppliers and specialised technical expertise.

However, manufacturing scale is increasingly only one part of South Korea’s proposition.

Investment is moving into more specialised areas of biomanufacturing, including antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), bioconjugation, flexible production technologies and next-generation bioprocessing.

This combination of established manufacturing infrastructure and growing expertise in complex biologics could further strengthen South Korea’s role as biopharmaceutical pipelines become more diverse and technically demanding.

Singapore has taken a different approach to developing its biopharmaceutical manufacturing sector.

Rather than competing primarily through manufacturing cost or production volume, the country has built its proposition around advanced infrastructure, skilled talent, regulatory capabilities and strong connectivity with international markets.

Today, Singapore is home to more than 60 biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities covering areas such as small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients, biologics, cell therapies and ADCs.

Continued investment in advanced modalities and manufacturing technologies is further expanding the range of capabilities available within the country.

Singapore’s long-term strength may therefore lie not in becoming Asia’s largest manufacturing base, but in its ability to connect innovation, advanced manufacturing and global supply networks within a highly integrated ecosystem.

China’s biopharma manufacturing story is closely linked to the rapid development of its wider biotechnology sector.

The country has built capabilities across research, drug development, clinical activities, contract development and manufacturing, and commercial-scale production.

At the same time, Chinese CDMOs have expanded into increasingly sophisticated areas, including biologics manufacturing, drug-product production and bioconjugation.

As more Chinese biotechnology companies develop innovative therapies and pursue opportunities beyond the domestic market, the connection between innovation and manufacturing is becoming increasingly important.

China’s role within Asia may therefore be defined not simply by manufacturing capacity, but by the breadth of an ecosystem capable of supporting products across multiple stages of development.

India has long been an important part of the global pharmaceutical manufacturing network, particularly across APIs, generic medicines and vaccines.

The next stage of development is broadening that manufacturing base.

Investment is increasingly extending into higher-value areas of biopharmaceutical production, including biosimilars, monoclonal antibodies, mRNA-based therapeutics and cell and gene therapies.

Initiatives such as BioE3 are also intended to strengthen shared biomanufacturing infrastructure, biofoundries and capabilities that can support scale-up and commercialisation.

This creates an important opportunity for India: combining an established pharmaceutical manufacturing base with the infrastructure and expertise required for increasingly complex biological products.

Japan is following another path.

Instead of focusing primarily on large-scale biologics capacity, the country has developed particular strengths in regenerative medicine and is continuing to build capabilities across cell therapy, gene therapy and other advanced modalities.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has identified domestic CDMO capabilities spanning areas such as cell manufacturing, ex vivo gene therapy, viral vectors, plasmids and mRNA.

Government initiatives supporting manufacturing infrastructure and workforce development also demonstrate the strategic importance being placed on these emerging areas.

As advanced therapies move from research towards broader commercialisation, specialised manufacturing expertise will become increasingly important. Japan is positioning itself to participate in that transition.

Some of the most interesting developments are occurring outside Asia’s traditionally established biopharma manufacturing centres.

Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia are all exploring or developing opportunities within biopharmaceutical manufacturing, although their capabilities and priorities differ considerably.

Thailand, for example, is working to strengthen the pathway between biopharmaceutical research, pilot-scale development and GMP manufacturing. Its National Biopharmaceutical Facility supports upstream and downstream process development and prototype production, while international partnerships are contributing to technology transfer and manufacturing capability development.

Vietnam, meanwhile, is making notable investments in vaccine manufacturing.

The VNVC Vaccine and Biological Manufacturing Plant is expected to commence operations by the end of 2027, with vaccine manufacturing planned from 2028. The facility is being developed towards international manufacturing standards and is intended to support research, technology transfer and large-scale vaccine production.

These emerging markets are unlikely to replicate the scale of Asia’s established manufacturing centres in the immediate future.

Nor do they necessarily need to.

Their importance may instead come from developing focused capabilities that complement the wider regional manufacturing network.

Perhaps the most important change is how companies should think about biopharma manufacturing in Asia.

Asia is not a single manufacturing market, and increasingly, its major biopharma locations should not be viewed as interchangeable.

Each ecosystem is developing around different strengths.

South Korea combines major biologics capacity with increasing specialisation. Singapore offers a highly connected platform for advanced and high-value manufacturing. China links an extensive biotechnology innovation base with growing development and production capabilities. India is extending its pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing strengths into more complex biologics. Japan is building around advanced therapies, while Southeast Asian markets are gradually establishing specialised capabilities of their own.

For biopharma companies, this changes the strategic question.

Instead of simply asking:

“Where should we manufacture in Asia?”

A more useful question may increasingly be:

“Which Asian ecosystem best matches our product, modality, development stage and supply-chain strategy?”

We see a manufacturing landscape becoming more specialised, interconnected and complementary.

As biologics pipelines become increasingly complex and as companies place greater emphasis on manufacturing resilience, technology transfer and diversified supply networks, selecting the right manufacturing ecosystem will require more than comparing capacity or cost.

Companies will need to consider where the appropriate scientific expertise, manufacturing technologies, infrastructure, partners and market access come together.

For Asia, this may become one of the region’s greatest strengths.

Not one biopharma manufacturing hub, but a connected network of specialised ecosystems, each playing a different role in bringing the next generation of therapies from development to patients.