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.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS