Taiwan’s industrial production last month rose 5.07 percent from a year earlier, as local technology firms benefited from strong demand for electronic components used in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing applications, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Industrial production measures the change in the value of output produced by the local manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors.
Last month, the industrial production index was 96.31, with manufacturing output — which accounted for 95.29 percent of the industrial production index — rising 5.29 percent to 96.4, up for the 11th consecutive month to the second highest in history, it said.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
The strong showing came as robust demand for AI and high-performance computing applications, and big data centers offset fewer working days linked to the Lunar New Year, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Huang Wei-chieh (黃偉傑) said.
Within the technology space, electronic components output increased 16.67 percent year-on-year, while production in the IC sector surged 22.92 percent to an all-time high, the ministry said.
The rapid growth was the result of a sustained expansion in 12-inch wafer foundry production, as US technology giants showed keen demand for chips used in high-performance computing and AI applications, it said.
As AI grows increasingly prevalent and demand for Web-based services rises, more investment would flow to the semiconductor industry, it said.
That explained why the production index for computer, electronics and optical products rose 14.78 percent to a record high, indicating that local AI server suppliers operated during the Lunar New Year holiday to meet demand, the ministry said.
While tech firms thrived, non-tech companies took a hit from reduced working days, low-price competition from overseas and production maintenance, it said.
Output for basic metals, chemicals and fertilizers, machinery equipment, and vehicles and auto parts all fell, with annual decreases of 2.1 to 27.2 percent, it said.
AI-driven demand is expected to lend further support to technology products, Huang said, adding that this month’s manufacturing production index is forecast to grow between 18.6 and 23.7 percent.
For the first two months of the year, growth is expected to range from 11.4 percent to 13.8 percent, meaning that the seasonal weakness in the first quarter might not be conspicuous, Huang said.
Non-tech products could also contribute with their slowdown stabilizing, the ministry said.
However, Huang declined to speculate on the timeline of recovery for non-tech sectors, saying it would depend on when the spillover effect of China’s overproduction ends.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
NOT TO WORRY: Some people are concerned funds might continue moving out of the country, but the central bank said financial account outflows are not unusual in Taiwan Taiwan’s outbound investments hit a new high last year due to investments made by contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and other major manufacturers to boost global expansion, the central bank said on Thursday. The net increase in outbound investments last year reached a record US$21.05 billion, while the net increase in outbound investments by Taiwanese residents reached a record US$31.98 billion, central bank data showed. Chen Fei-wen (陳斐紋), deputy director of the central bank’s Department of Economic Research, said the increase was largely due to TSMC’s efforts to expand production in the US and Japan. Investments by Vanguard International
WARNING SHOT: The US president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imported vehicles, and similar or higher duties on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors US President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that a trade deal with China was “possible” — a key target in the US leader’s tariffs policy. The US in 2020 had already agreed to “a great trade deal with China” and a new deal was “possible,” Trump said. Trump said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to visit the US, without giving a timeline for his trip. Trump also said that he was talking to China about TikTok, as the US seeks to broker a sale of the popular app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動). Trump last week said that he had
RSS