Industrial production last month rose for a fourth consecutive month, increasing 13.23 percent year-on-year, as robust demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and cloud-based devices fueled demand for chips, data centers and semiconductor inspection tools, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Manufacturing production, a major pillar of the nation’s industrial production, grew 13.5 percent annually last month, it said.
Manufacturing production expanded 14.86 percent annually in the second quarter, accelerating from a 6.22 percent increase in the first quarter, indicating that the manufacturing sector is making a solid recovery, the ministry said.
Photo: Annabelle Chih, Bloomberg
During the first half of this year, industrial production and manufacturing production grew 10.26 percent and 10.51 percent respectively, ministry data showed.
“The strong performance in the second quarter clearly indicates that the manufacturing sector has bottomed out and is well on track to post better growth in the second half of this year,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) said by telephone. “We expect quarter-on-quarter growth for the remainder of this year as the sector enters its peak season.”
This month, manufacturing production is estimated to expand 13.2 to 17.9 percent from a year earlier, Huang said, adding that the forecast did not take into account potential uncertainty surrounding the US presidential election.
Production of computers and optical components last month jumped 36.07 percent year-on-year, with optical inspection tools posting a particularly robust performance amid fab expansions, Huang said.
Production of electronic components last month grew 23.05 percent annually due to healthy demand for 12-inch wafers used in AI and high-performance computing devices, as well as an improvement in demand for DRAM chips, 8-inch wafers and chip designing services, the ministry said.
Semiconductor output outshone other electronic components with an annual increase of 33.55 percent, its best performance for the month of June, the ministry said.
During the first six months of this year, electronic component production grew 17.88 percent, ministry data showed.
The production of base metals, mostly steel, last month rose 2.54 percent due to restocking demand and a lower comparison base from a year earlier, the ministry said, adding that in the first half, production increased 1.07 percent.
Machinery production last month grew 3.28 percent and edged up 0.5 percent in the first six months, due to rising demand from semiconductor firms for manufacturing equipment, it said.
The petrochemicals sector saw production expand 5.82 percent mainly because of improved demand and a lower comparison base from the previous year, the ministry said.
During the first six months, production climbed 0.96 percent, it added.
Production of automotive products contracted 8.15 percent last month and 2.54 percent in the first half, as the rising popularity of electric vehicles squeezed demand for gasoline-fueled vehicles, the ministry said.
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