Export orders last month grew for the sixth straight month to US$50.22 billion, benefiting from strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips and cloud-based servers, as well as robust inventory replenishment for new iPhones, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Last month’s orders increased 9.1 percent from US$46.04 billion a year earlier and came within the ministry's earlier estimate of between US$49.1 billion and US $51.1 billion, the ministry said.
Total orders in the first eight months of this year rose 3.5 percent year-on-year to US$375.11 billion, it said.
Photo: CNA
This month, export orders are expected to grow 4.7 percent to 8.6 percent to between US$53.8 billion and US$55.8 billion, the ministry said.
Third-quarter export orders are expected to expand 8.8 percent to 10.2 percent from the previous quarter and 6.1 percent to 7.5 percent from a year earlier to between US$154 billion and US$156 billion, it said.
“We maintain our earlier projection that export orders will grow each quarter this year as Taiwan will continue benefiting from rising world trade,” Department of Statistics Director Huang Yu-ling (黃于玲) said via telephone.
Any delays in Nvidia Corp’s new AI chips, based on its Blackwell platform, would not imperil export orders in the near term, Huang said.
However, the ministry is closely monitoring how external risks — such as an imminent strike by dockworkers on the US’ east coast and the Gulf of Mexico area, the US presidential election on Nov. 5 and the escalating Middle East situation — would play out, she said.
“The uncertainty is rising compared with what we thought three months ago,” Huang said.
Strong demand for AI applications, cloud servers and high-performance computing devices meant that orders for information and communications technology products surged 16 percent annually to US$14.14 billion, while orders for electronic products climbed 13.2 percent to US$17.84 billion last month, ministry data showed.
Optronic products orders rose 5.1 percent to US$1.89 billion last month on the back of higher demand for camera lenses, optical inspection tools and backlight modules, while those for base metals climbed 0.2 percent to US$2.03 billion due to an improved market situation for steel and metal products, the data showed.
Orders of machinery products rose 4 percent to US$1.67 billion last month, mainly because of robust demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment worldwide, the ministry said.
Chemical products orders grew 7.7 percent to US$1.56 billion due to price hikes, but plastics and rubber goods orders shrank 3.2 percent to US$1.64 billion amid weak demand for raw materials, it said.
By destination, the US placed the largest orders of US$16.70 billion to Taiwanese firms last month, up 11.2 percent from a year earlier, while China and Hong Kong ranked second place with US$11.18 billion in orders, up 2.6 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed.
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