The business climate monitor for the manufacturing industry in July turned “yellow-blue,” ending four months of recessionary state, as local firms benefited from the arrival of the high sale season for technology products, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday.
The institute’s business composite index picked up 1.16 points to 11.13, as the readings on demand and operating conditions gained value, TIER said, adding that input and cost measures shed further points, while selling prices held steady.
“Tech firms spotted a rebound in new business orders but non-tech product makers remain weighed by poor market demand,” the institute said in a report.
Photo: EPA
“The debt problems plaguing China’s developers and asset management companies add uncertainty to the market’s recovery,” it said, as nearly 40 percent of Taiwan exports head to China.
TIER uses a five-color spectrum to capture the industry’s health, with “red” indicating a boom, “green” suggesting steady growth and “blue” signifying a downturn. Dual colors indicate a transition to a better or worse state.
Taiwan houses the world’s major suppliers of electronics used in smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Firms in a transition state climbed to 34.38 percent, from 25.61 percent one month earlier, the institute observed. Firms trapped in business downturn eased from 66.58 percent to 45.68 percent.
A total of 17.72 percent reported steady growth and a slight 0.22 percent moved toward a boom, the institute said.
The improvement is evident among manufacturers of electronic components, thanks to a strong demand for AI devices and the upcoming release of new iPhone series, it said.
Operating conditions picked up for electrical and machinery equipment makers, lifting their business monitor to the zone of steady growth, but vendors of metal products floundered in the contraction territory. Upstream clients cut capacity to cope with tepid demand, it said.
Auto part makers benefitted from strong car sales in July when the number of new car plates grew 10.9 percent year-on-year to 42,400, the institute said.
However, input and demand lost steam after new car orders showed signs of retreat in the US and European markets, it said.
Makers of petrochemical, plastic and chemical products continued to struggle, as their orders, industrial output and selling prices have not yet stabilized, it said.
TECH BOOST: New TSMC wafer fabs in Arizona are to dramatically improve US advanced chip production, a report by market research firm TrendForce said With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) pouring large funds into Arizona, the US is expected to see an improvement in its status to become the second-largest maker of advanced semiconductors in 2027, Taipei-based market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said in a report last week. TrendForce estimates the US would account for a 21 percent share in the global advanced integrated circuit (IC) production market by 2027, sharply up from the current 9 percent, as TSMC is investing US$65 billion to build three wafer fabs in Arizona, the report said. TrendForce defined the advanced chipmaking processes as the 7-nanometer process or more
Who would not want a social media audience that grows without new content? During the three years she paused production of her short do-it-yourself (DIY) farmer’s lifestyle videos, Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi (李子柒), 34, has seen her YouTube subscribers increase to 20.2 million from about 14 million. While YouTube is banned in China, her fan base there — although not the size of YouTube’s MrBeast, who has 330 million subscribers — is close to 100 million across the country’s social media platforms Douyin (抖音), Sina Weibo (新浪微博) and Xiaohongshu (小紅書). When Li finally released new videos last week — ending what has
OPEN SCIENCE: International collaboration on math and science will persevere even if the incoming Trump administration imposes strict controls, Nvidia’s CEO said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said on Saturday that global cooperation in technology would continue even if the incoming US administration imposes stricter export controls on advanced computing products. US president-elect Donald Trump, in his first term in office, imposed restrictions on the sale of US technology to China citing national security — a policy continued under US President Joe Biden. The curbs forced Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips used for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, to change its product lineup in China. The US chipmaking giant last week reported record-high quarterly revenue on the back of strong AI chip
Qualcomm Inc’s interest in pursuing an acquisition of Intel Corp has cooled, people familiar with the matter said, upending what would have likely been one of the largest technology deals of all time. The complexities associated with acquiring all of Intel has made a deal less attractive to Qualcomm, said some of the people, asking not to be identified discussing confidential matters. It is always possible Qualcomm looks at pieces of Intel instead or rekindles its interest later, they added. Representatives for Qualcomm and Intel declined to comment. Qualcomm made a preliminary approach to Intel on a possible takeover, Bloomberg News and other media