The industrial production index fell 12.45 percent annually last year after it fell by a faster-than-expected 3.99 percent last month amid a shortage of artificial intelligence (AI) chips from Nvidia Corp, which curtailed server production, while inventory adjustments at foundry and printed circuit board firms continued, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The index gauges output in Taiwan’s four main industries: manufacturing, electricity and gas supply, water supply, and mining and quarrying.
The manufacturing production index, which contributed 95.41 percent to the industrial production index, dropped 4.19 percent annually last month, the 19th month of consecutive falls, a record, the ministry said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Last month’s decline meant that the manufacturing index was down 12.88 percent last year, down for a second consecutive year and the severest slump on record, it said.
The production index for electricity and gas supply dropped 3.7 percent from a year earlier, while the indices for water supply, and mining and quarrying were down 2.15 percent and 3.47 percent respectively, it said.
The ministry has a more optimistic view about industrial and manufacturing output this year, due to robust demand prospects for semiconductors and servers, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) said by telephone.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, last week forecast that revenue this year would grow to as much as 25 percent annually, outperforming the global semiconductor industry’s expected expansion of 10 percent.
“A rebound in demand for semiconductors will be one of the major driving factors” of the global situation, Huang said.
“Smooth server shipments will be another as Chinese output of less-advanced artificial-intelligence chips increases and supply chain inventory digestion nears an end,” he said, adding that semiconductors and servers make up more than 40 percent of overall manufacturing production.
This month, the manufacturing production index is expected to grow by 9.6 to 14.7 percent due to a nascent economic revival and a lower comparison base last year, he said.
However, the Red Sea crisis poses a new concern, given that longer transportation times and higher shipping costs would lead to higher prices, reigniting inflation risks, and weighing on export orders and manufacturing output, he said.
Last year, electronic components production — which mainly comprises semiconductors and flat panels used in PCs and TVs — plummeted 17.39 percent annually, while the production of computers and optical components, mainly camera lenses, dropped 0.19 percent from the previous year, ministry data showed.
Output of base metals, including steel, fell 9.48 percent and output of petrochemicals sank 11.82 percent, while machinery output fell 17.35 percent and automotive-related products were down 1.06 percent annually last year, the data showed.
‘AL SILICON ISLAND’: Tainan is the birthplace of AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su, while TSMC is building a new fab to produce 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) has chosen to locate its new research-and-development (R&D) centers in Tainan and Kaohsiung, as part of the US chip company's NT$8.64 billion (US$270.5 million) project to advance its development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and silicon photonics, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. AMD’s latest investment would help to develop Taiwan into an “AI silicon island,” the ministry said in a statement after Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) met AMD representatives led by David Wang (王啟尚), senior vice president of AMD’s graphics processing unit technologies and engineering, in Taipei yesterday. AMD
As monsoon rains were about to break over Pakistan, 14-year-old Shamila and her 13-year-old sister Amina were married off in exchange for money, a decision their parents made to help the family survive the threat of floods. “I was happy to hear I was getting married... I thought my life would become easier,” Shamila said after her wedding to a man twice her age in hope of a more prosperous life. “But I have nothing more, and with the rain, I fear I will have even less, if that is possible.” Pakistan’s high rate of marriages for underage girls had been inching
LATE MOVE: If a deal goes ahead, upending Shin Kong Financial’s plans, CTBC Financial would be the financial conglomerate in Taiwan with the biggest assets CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) yesterday said it is seeking regulatory approval to buy Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) on the open market, casting a last-minute shadow over Taishin Financial Holding Co’s (台新金控) bid. CTBC Financial, Taiwan’s third-largest financial conglomerate by assets, made known its intention in a stock exchange filing, just two days before Taishin Financial and Shin Kong Financial were to announce their merger through a share swap scheme. “We will supply more details over the buyout plan after the Financial Supervisory Commission [FSC] gives the go-ahead,” CTBC Financial said in the filing. The acquisition attempt, if realized, would enable
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) is to lease six A321neo aircraft as it eyes expansion amid a tourism boom. The airline plans to spend about NT$2.16 billion (US$67.51 million) on each of the first three planes, which would be leased from GY Aviation Lease 2405 Co, Starlux said in a statement. The price of the other three planes is still being negotiated and would be disclosed after an agreement is signed, it said. A Starlux prospectus posted in June on the Taiwan Stock Exchange said that as of the end of May, the airline had a fleet of 22 passenger planes — 13 A321neos,