Industrial production expanded for the third month in a row last month, but growth momentum is slowing compared with the previous month, a government report showed yesterday.
For the first nine months of the year, total industrial output contracted 1.51 percent compared with the same period last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in the report.
The industrial production index rose 3 percent from a year earlier to 129.54 points last month on the back of an expansion in manufacturing and fuel supplies, as well as in the construction and building industries, but the index was 4.69 percent lower than in the previous month, the report said.
Manufacturing sector production — which accounts for more than 90 percent of the nation’s total factory output and includes the electronic, chemical, machinery, foodstuff and textile industries — grew 14.25 percent year-on-year last month, the report showed.
Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯), deputy director-general of the ministry’s statistics department, attributed the results to increasing demand for electronic materials used for new high-tech gadgets, such as handheld devices and tablet computers, which had offset lower output from domestic steelmakers and basic metal manufacturers.
However, there are some uncertain factors that may affect domestic manufacturers’ production in the months ahead, Yang said.
“If the market sustains a positive reaction toward new products running Microsoft [Corp’s] Windows 8 operating system, there is a likelihood that we will see additional demands for related electronic products and components supplied by local manufacturers,” he said.
Industrial Development Bureau Director Hsiao Chen-jung (蕭振榮) said he was “cautiously optimistic” about industrial output next month because of the launch of new smartphones and tablets in the fourth quarter as well as the seasonal demand for new cars.
The ministry’s latest data on domestic trade, also released yesterday, showed revenue for the nation’s retail, wholesale and restaurant sectors totaled NT$1.22 trillion (US$41.4 million) last month, up 1.5 percent from a month earlier, but down 0.8 percent year-on-year.
Cumulative revenue of domestic trade in the first nine months of the year amounted to NT$10.61 trillion, down 0.8 percent year-on-year, the data showed.
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
The Taipei International Cycle Show (Taipei Cycle) yesterday opened at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, with the event’s organizer expecting a steady recovery in the industry this year following a tough last year. This year, 980 companies from 35 countries are participating in the annual bicycle trade show, showcasing technological breakthroughs and market development trends of the bicycle industry at 3,600 booths, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said in a statement. Under the theme “Ride the Revolution,” the exhibition has attracted more than 3,500 international buyers from 80 countries to preregister for the four-day event, which is expected to
RSS