Taiwan's export orders rose last month, helped by demand from emerging markets such as China.
Orders, an indication of shipments in the coming three months, advanced 18.08 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. That compares with the median estimate of 18 percent in a Bloomberg News survey and 16.89 percent in January.
Business with China may get a boost after Ma Ying-jeou (
A slowdown in the US, Taiwan's second-biggest overseas market, will inevitably affect shipments, central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) said yesterday.
"The numbers show that Taiwan so far hasn't been affected by the global slowdown," said Fang Wen-yen (
The figures were released after close of trading on Taiwan's stock exchange.
The TAIEX jumped 3.99 percent on optimism that Ma's election will boost links with China.
Ma, 57, pledged to enact immediately his policy to end a five-decade ban on direct flights between Taiwan and China.
Travelers are currently required to fly through a third port such as Hong Kong, adding up to five hours to flight times.
Ma has also promised to ease a ban on Taiwanese companies investing more than 40 percent of their assets in China, a rule aimed at preventing money and jobs moving away from the nation.
"Taiwan won't break this trend of relying on China," Fang said. "It's very important, particularly as US demand weakens."
Exports to Asia, including China and Hong Kong, have so far insulated Taiwan from the effects of a weaker US economy. China and Hong Kong combined accounted for 38 percent of Taiwan's overseas shipments last month. About 12 percent went to the US.
Orders from China and Hong Kong increased 26.07 percent last month, while those from Japan advanced 14.13 percent, Singapore climbed 10.38 percent and the rest of Asia 31.79 percent.
US orders rose 8.95 percent, compared with 7.65 percent in January and from Europe they increased 14.69 percent.
Orders for electronics climbed 22.79 percent from a year earlier and those for information technology and communications products gained 3.52 percent, yesterday's report showed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Man-ufacturing Co (台積電), the largest custom chipmaker in the world, forecast first-quarter sales to rise more than a third from the same period a year earlier, as customers buy its most-advanced products.
Industrial production increased 15.22 percent last month from a year earlier, the ministry said.
That compares with the estimate of 12 percent in the Bloomberg News survey and the 12.3 percent gain in January.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
Taiwanese artificial intelligence (AI) server makers are expected to make major investments in Texas in May after US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office and amid his rising tariff threats, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA, 台灣電子電機公會) chairman Richard Lee (李詩欽) said yesterday. The association led a delegation of seven AI server manufacturers to Washington, as well as the US states of California, Texas and New Mexico, to discuss land and tax issues, as Taiwanese firms speed up their production plans in the US with many of them seeing Texas as their top option for investment, Lee said. The
RSS