Affected by US restrictions on China’s access to chipmaking machines, Taiwan’s exports to China and Hong Kong last month fell 26 percent from a year earlier to US$151 million, Ministry of Finance data showed.
While an improvement from March’s fall of nearly 34 percent, it still marked the 10th consecutive month of declines.
US-China tensions have risen over Taiwan, with the world’s leading producer of cutting-edge chips seeking greater ties with Washington in the face of rising pressure from Beijing.
Photo: Reuters
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) met with then-US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi last year and current speaker Kevin McCarthy last month, adding to strains.
US President Joe Biden has repeatedly stressed the need to place “guardrails” around the increasingly combative relationship, but China says those efforts are not genuine.
Taiwan’s slumping exports are also attributable to the ongoing dropoff in global demand for technology. The nation’s exports plunged 13.3 percent overall last month, as worldwide purchases of electronics remained weak.
Shipments to China of integrated circuit chips — pivotal components of electronic appliances, computers and smartphones — fell 19 percent from a year earlier, declining for a sixth straight month.
Separately, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said sales last month stopped a two-month falling streak, with analysts citing a relatively low comparison base in March for the rebound.
In a statement, TSMC said it posted NT$147.9 billion (US$4.81 billion) in consolidated sales, up 1.7 percent from March.
Sales in March declined to a 17-month low of NT$145.41 billion, down 10.9 percent from a month earlier and 15.4 percent from a year earlier on continued inventory adjustments in the global semiconductor industry.
However, on an annual basis, sales last month declined 14.3 percent, TSMC said.
In the first four months of this year, TSMC’s consolidated sales stood at NT$656.53 billion, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier.
Additional reporting by CNA
Semiconductor shares in China surged yesterday after Reuters reported the US had ordered chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers, which investors believe could accelerate Beijing’s self-reliance efforts. TSMC yesterday started to suspend shipments of certain sophisticated chips to some Chinese clients after receiving a letter from the US Department of Commerce imposing export restrictions on those products, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed source. The US imposed export restrictions on TSMC’s 7-nanometer or more advanced designs, Reuters reported. Investors figured that would encourage authorities to support China’s industry and bought shares
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
CHANGING JAPAN: Nvidia-powered AI services over cellular networks ‘will result in an artificial intelligence grid that runs across Japan,’ Nvidia’s Jensen Huang said Softbank Group Corp would be the first to build a supercomputer with chips using Nvidia Corp’s new Blackwell design, a demonstration of the Japanese company’s ambitions to catch up on artificial intelligence (AI). The group’s telecom unit, Softbank Corp, plans to build Japan’s most powerful AI supercomputer to support local services, it said. That computer would be based on Nvidia’s DGX B200 product, which combines computer processors with so-called AI accelerator chips. A follow-up effort will feature Grace Blackwell, a more advanced version, the company said. The announcement indicates that Softbank Group, which until early 2019 owned 4.9 percent of Nvidia, has secured a
RSS