Taiwan remained the fifth-largest net creditor last year as its net international investment position (NIIP) hit another new high, the central bank said on Friday.
Taiwan’s external financial assets totaled US$2.91 trillion at the end of last year, up US$247.04 billion, or 9.3 percent, from a year earlier, while the nation’s external financial liabilities reached US$1.17 trillion, up US$183.12 billion, or 18.5 percent, from a year earlier, data compiled by the central bank showed.
The difference between Taiwan’s external financial assets and liabilities hit a new high of US$1.74 trillion, up US$63.92 billion, or 3.8 percent, from a year earlier, positioning the nation as the world’s fifth-largest net creditor, the data showed.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The NIIP is the difference between a country’s external financial assets and its external financial liabilities, the central bank said.
Japan took the top net creditor spot with a NIIP of about US$3.44 trillion last year, followed by Germany (US$3.20 trillion), China (US$2.19 trillion) and Hong Kong (US$1.78 trillion), the central bank said.
The rise in Taiwan’s external financial assets last year stemmed partly from a boom in global stock markets, which pushed up sharply the value of overseas shares held by investors in Taiwan, it said.
Stock markets worldwide rose about 17 percent last year, helping Taiwan’s portfolio investments rise 14.1 percent from a year earlier to US$1.39 trillion, it said.
The nation’s cumulative outbound investments also hit a new high of US$500.14 billion last year, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier, as restructuring of global supply chains led many Taiwanese companies to send more of their funds overseas, it said.
The central bank was referring to companies such as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which has poured funds into the US, Japan and Germany to build advanced wafer fabs to diversify its production bases.
Taiwan has long maintained a surplus in its current account, which mainly measures the exports and imports of a country’s merchandise and services.
The other big creditors, Japan, Germany and China, have also traditionally been net exporters, though Japan has recorded trade deficits over the past few years.
At the end of last year, Taiwan’s current account hit US$105.33 billion, up from US$100.93 billion as of the end of 2022, the central bank data showed.
External financial liabilities were boosted by cumulative foreign direct investment in Taiwan, which reached a new high of US$136.6 billion last year, up 9.8 percent from a year earlier.
In addition, total portfolio investments in Taiwan by overseas investors were up 33.5 percent from a year earlier to US$710.9 billion, the central bank said.
The higher portfolio numbers reflected, in part, the 26.8 percent rise in the TAIEX last year, it said.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
RSS