Export orders increased 6.1 percent annually to US$154.04 billion last quarter, the highest in seven quarters, as strong demand for cloud-based applications, servers and artificial intelligence (AI) chips drove last month’s orders to the highest level in about two years, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Export orders last month increased 4.6 percent to US$53.79 billion, the largest since October 2022, the ministry said.
The ministry attributed the strong performance to orders for electronic products, mainly semiconductors, which surged 10.5 percent year-on-year to US$19.01 billion on the back of strong demand for AI and high-performance computing devices.
Photo: CNA
Orders for information and communications technology products rose 7 percent to US$17.6 billion amid robust demand for servers and cloud-based devices, it said.
Orders for optronic products increased 3.3 percent to US$1.88 billion last month on rising demand for optical inspection tools used in semiconductor manufacturing, it said, but added that demand for backlight modules used in TV panels declined, casting a dismal outlook for optronic products this month.
“September’s figure only hit the lower end of the ministry’s estimates because of an uneven recovery in end demand,” Department of Statistics Director Huang Yu-ling (黃于玲) said.
Despite strong orders for electronic products, semiconductors in particular, “declines in global crude oil prices dampened orders for plastic and chemical products last month,” Huang said.
Orders for plastic and rubber products contracted 1.1 percent annually to US$1.53 billion last month amid oversupply, while orders for chemical products sank 8.5 percent to US$1.37 billion after the cost of crude oil plummeted 22.2 percent, the ministry’s data showed.
However, orders for base metals climbed 4.3 percent to US$2 billion and those of machinery products and mechanical equipment expanded 3.6 percent to US$1.61 billion, the data showed.
During the first nine months of the year, export orders expanded 3.7 percent year-on-year to US$428.9 billion, the ministry said.
The ministry expects export orders this month either to drop 0.5 percent to US$53.5 billion or grow up to 3.2 percent to US$55.5 billion, Huang said.
The forecast represents an annual growth of between 1.3 percent and 5 percent compared with US$52.8 billion in October last year, she said.
The ministry is cautiously optimistic about this quarter, which should be better than last quarter due to seasonal factors, she said.
If that is the case, export orders this year would return to growth after orders last year contracted 15.9 percent to US$561 billion, as high inflation dampened consumer demand for electronics and the semiconductor industry entered an inventory correction cycle, she said.
Semiconductor business between Taiwan and the US is a “win-win” model for both sides given the high level of complementarity, the government said yesterday responding to tariff threats from US President Donald Trump. Home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), Taiwan is a key link in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp. Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the US. “Taiwan and the US semiconductor and other technology industries
SMALL AND EFFICIENT: The Chinese AI app’s initial success has spurred worries in the US that its tech giants’ massive AI spending needs re-evaluation, a market strategist said Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) start-up DeepSeek’s (深度求索) eponymous AI assistant rocketed to the top of Apple Inc’s iPhone download charts, stirring doubts in Silicon Valley about the strength of the US’ technological dominance. The app’s underlying AI model is widely seen as competitive with OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc’s latest. Its claim that it cost much less to train and develop triggered share moves across Asia’s supply chain. Chinese tech firms linked to DeepSeek, such as Iflytek Co (科大訊飛), surged yesterday, while chipmaking tool makers like Advantest Corp slumped on the potential threat to demand for Nvidia Corp’s AI accelerators. US stock
The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce a pause in rate cuts on Wednesday, as policymakers look to continue tackling inflation under close and vocal scrutiny from US President Donald Trump. The Fed cut its key lending rate by a full percentage point in the final four months of last year and indicated it would move more cautiously going forward amid an uptick in inflation away from its long-term target of 2 percent. “I think they will do nothing, and I think they should do nothing,” Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis former president Jim Bullard said. “I think the
SUBSIDIES: The nominee for commerce secretary indicated the Trump administration wants to put its stamp on the plan, but not unravel it entirely US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of a US$52 billion semiconductor subsidy program declined to give it unqualified support, raising questions about the disbursement of funds to companies like Intel Corp and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電). “I can’t say that I can honor something I haven’t read,” Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, said of the binding CHIPS and Science Act awards in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday. “To the extent monies have been disbursed, I would commit to rigorously enforcing documents that have been signed by those companies to make sure we get
RSS