Taiwan’s business climate monitor last month was green for a second consecutive month, suggesting steady growth, but downside risks are gathering strength amid China’s COVID-19 lockdowns and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.
The total score of the nine subindices lost 3 points to 28, with the values on business confidence, local share prices as well as retail, wholesale and restaurant sales subsiding, while the five other gauges held steady, NDC research director Wu Ming-huei (吳明蕙) said.
Exports, a main growth driver, remained strong with double-digit percentage growth last month, thanks to digital transformations and demand for innovative technology applications, Wu said.
Photo: CNA
The council uses a five-color system to capture the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” signaling a recession. Dual colors indicate a shift to a stronger or weaker state.
The war in Ukraine is driving up international energy and commodity prices, which is unfavorable for corporate profitability and consumer spending, Wu said.
Global monetary tightening is rocking financial markets worldwide, while China’s lockdowns of key industrial and commercial cities is negatively affecting supply chains, she said.
Local suppliers of components used in smartphones, laptops and TVs have given conservative guidance for their shipments and selling prices for this quarter, she said.
The index of leading indicators, which is intended to project the economic scene in the following six months, fell 0.33 percent to 100.19, the council said.
Almost all subindices displayed negative cyclical movements, except for the reading on new construction, which posted a gain, it said.
The index of coincident indicators, which reflects the current economic situation, posted a 0.09 percent increase to 102.34 percent on the back of improving exports, non-farm payrolls, and imports of machinery and electrical equipment, it said.
Retail, wholesale and restaurant sales would take a dive this month, as people stay home due to Taiwan’s COVID-19 situation, Wu said.
“That is a worrying development,” she added.
The government has rolled out fresh subsidy and relief funds to help affected companies and individuals.
Meanwhile, the consumer confidence index this month lost 3.96 points to 67.81, dragged down by a volatile local stock market, rising retail prices and economic uncertainty, a survey by National Central University showed.
All six subindices fell, although people remained somewhat positive about purchases of durable goods, mainly real estate, the survey said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”