Accumulated exports from the IC sector in the first eight months of the year were US$76.022 billion, up 21.6 percent from a year earlier and a record high for the period, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed.
The total value of the nation’s exports over the eight-month period reached US$217.38 billion, up 1.5 percent from last year, making Taiwan one of the few economies to retain growth momentum amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry said.
The increase in overall export value was driven by strong growth in exports of electronic components and information and communication products, propelled by solid demand for emerging 5G technologies and work-from-home devices.
Photo: Billy HC Kwok, Bloomberg
This was offset by a decline in exports of some major products, the ministry said.
In the electronic components industry, the IC sector recorded US$11.285 billion in exports in August, up 20.4 percent from a year earlier, and a record single-month high, due mainly to rush shipments to Huawei Technologies Co (華為) ahead of new US sanctions against the Chinese tech giant.
In August, IC products made up 36.2 percent of Taiwan’s total exports.
Over the first eight months, the IC sector accounted for 35 percent of Taiwan’s total exports, also a record high, the data showed.
The strong growth in IC exports and the sector’s contribution to overall exports was due to strong demand for technology products and a steep fall in the export of old-economy products, such as plastics, minerals and machinery products as a result of the pandemic, ministry officials said.
The value of semiconductor equipment imports in August was US$1.9 billion, up 26.1 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
For the first eight months, accumulated semiconductor equipment imports hit a record-high US$14.28 billion for the period, up 9.3 percent year-on-year, the data showed.
The nation’s semiconductor industry is expected to step up imports of equipment later this year, particularly high-end equipment from Japan and Europe, to improve its competitiveness, ministry officials said.
This trend has been spurred by US-China technology disputes, which has increased business opportunities in emerging technologies and for Taiwanese companies moving production back to Taiwan.
The anticipated increase in the purchase of semiconductor equipment is likely to boost Taiwan’s overall imports and cause greater exports, ministry officials said.
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