Taiwan’s exports to Mexico surged to a record level as tech companies moved production out of China, but the trade now faces uncertainty following US threats of higher tariffs on its neighbor.
Taiwanese exports to Mexico jumped 479 percent last month from a year earlier to reach US$2.7 billion, official data showed. This is mainly driven by shipments of graphic processing units, a key components of artificial intelligence (AI) servers.
The Ministry of Finance in a statement on Friday said the surge was largely due to supply chain shifts, as companies like Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) — also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) — and Wistron Corp (緯創) have been building factories in Mexico to assemble AI servers destined for the US.
Photo: CNA
The trade now seems at risk after US President Donald Trump announced late last month that he would impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada. The decision was later delayed for 30 days after last-minute negotiations, but the threats have caused stock prices of Taiwanese tech companies to plunge.
Last month, Trump also announced plans to impose 100 percent tariffs on computer chips from Taiwan. Minister of Economic Affair J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) on Saturday said that a group of officials would travel to the US to meet with Trump administration officials to try and stop the tariffs from being implemented.
In addition, Taiwan is preparing to buy more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US to reduce its trade surplus and potentially avoid higher tariffs.
State-owned CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and the ministry are in negotiations with an Alaska-based export plant for supplies, state-run Central News Agency reported on Sunday, citing an unidentified ministry official.
Trump on Friday said Japan would buy a record volume of US LNG, following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House.
Last year, Taiwan imported about 10 percent of its LNG from the US, with most shipments arriving from Australia and Qatar under long-term supply contracts, official data showed.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
RSS