The production value of Taiwan’s motorcycles and motorcycle spare parts in the first quarter of this year continued to grow, after hitting record highs in 2019 and last year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
In the first quarter, output value reached NT$35.6 billion (US$1.29 billion), up 16 percent annually, due mainly to robust exports of gasoline-powered motorcycles and electric scooters, the ministry said in a report.
The motorcycle and spare parts industry’s output value reached record highs of NT$122 billion and NT$132.4 billion in 2019 and last year respectively, ministry data showed.
Photo: CNA
From 2012 to last year, production value grew by an average annual rate of 5.2 percent.
The main products in the industry were gasoline-powered motorcycles and scooters, followed by spare parts, e-bicycles and e-scooters, the report said, adding that production of emission-free e-scooters rose rapidly due to growing environmental consciousness and the rise of athleisure trends.
In the first quarter, the production value of gasoline-powered motorcycles and scooters rose 27.8 percent year-on-year, while that of e-scooters grew 29.8 percent, the largest growth among all product categories, the report showed.
However, sales of e-scooters plunged 60.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter due to falling international oil prices and reduced government subsidies for purchases of e-scooters, it said.
Japan was the No. 1 destination for Taiwan’s motorcycle and spare parts exports before 2013, whereas from 2014 to 2018, the exports mainly went to the US, data compiled by the Ministry of Finance showed.
In the past few years, Taiwan’s motorcycle and spare parts have mainly gone to the Netherlands, the data showed.
Exports of motorcycle and spare parts to the Netherlands last year reached US$480 million, up 29.8 percent from a year earlier, while its exports to the US were about US$400 million, up 20.7 percent year-on-year, the data showed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said that its investment plan in Arizona is going according to schedule, following a local media report claiming that the company is planning to break ground on its third wafer fab in the US in June. In a statement, TSMC said it does not comment on market speculation, but that its investments in Arizona are proceeding well. TSMC is investing more than US$65 billion in Arizona to build three advanced wafer fabs. The first one has started production using the 4-nanometer (nm) process, while the second one would start mass production using the
A TAIWAN DEAL: TSMC is in early talks to fully operate Intel’s US semiconductor factories in a deal first raised by Trump officials, but Intel’s interest is uncertain Broadcom Inc has had informal talks with its advisers about making a bid for Intel Corp’s chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Nothing has been submitted to Intel and Broadcom could decide not to pursue a deal, according to the Journal. Bloomberg News earlier reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is in early talks for a controlling stake in Intel’s factories at the request of officials at US President Donald Trump’s administration, as the president looks to boost US manufacturing and maintain the country’s leadership in critical technologies. Trump officials raised 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
RSS