Exports last month climbed 4.5 percent year-on-year to US$40.57 billion, the best performance for the same month on record, thanks to robust demand from artificial intelligence (AI) applications and the launch of new-generation smartphones, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The figures marked the 11th straight month of annual expansion, albeit moderating from August’s 16.8 percent increase, as demand for non-tech products lost traction, the ministry said.
“The global economy has seen a wobbly and uneven recovery, but AI investment from US firms remains robust,” benefiting Taiwanese firms in their supply chains, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told an online news conference.
Photo: CNA
Tsai is looking at growth of 5.5 to 8.5 percent year-on-year for this month, backed by the high sales season for technology products.
Overseas sales of information and communications technology products — mainly AI servers and graphics processing units — spiked 24.8 percent to US$10.31 billion, the ministry’s monthly report showed.
AI-server suppliers Quanta Computer Inc (廣達電腦), Wistron Corp (緯創) and Inventec Corp (英業達) yesterday all reported record-high monthly revenue for last month.
Outbound shipments of electronics, primarily advanced chips intended for high-performance computing and smartphones, rose 4.9 percent from a year earlier to US$17.06 billion, as the release of Apple Inc’s new iPhone series ramped up business at local providers of chips, camera lenses, printed circuit boards and other components.
By destination, shipments to the US soared 27.3 percent year-on-year, making it Taiwan’s second-largest trading partner, catching up with China, Tsai said.
Exports to China edged up 1.7 percent, as the vast economy struggles to revive sluggish domestic demand.
Operating conditions for non-technology sectors turned soft, the ministry said.
Exports of plastics, chemicals, minerals and transportation tools reported double-digit percentage declines, ending a brief recovery in August, it said.
A persistent supply glut continued to weigh on those sectors, Tsai said.
Imports advanced at a faster 17.3 percent pace to US$33.45 billion, giving Taiwan a trade surplus of US$7.12 billion, down 30.9 percent from a year earlier, the ministry said.
Inbound shipments increased mainly due to purchases of capital equipment and devices by local semiconductor firms, Tsai said.
Local companies imported high-bandwidth memory from South Korea for use in AI-related shipments, she said.
For the third quarter, exports grew 8.1 percent year-on-year to US$124.13 billion, beating the government’s forecast by 1.8 percentage points, Tsai said.
Imports expanded 15 percent to US$100.66 billion, missing the official projection by 0.28 percentage points, she said.
In the first nine months of the year, exports rose 10.2 percent from a year earlier to US$349.13 billion, while imports increased 10.1 percent to US$289.54 billion, the ministry said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort