The government’s business climate monitor last month flashed “red,” indicating a boom for the nation’s export-oriented economy thanks to strong demand for semiconductors and servers used in artificial intelligence (AI) devices, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.
It is the first boom in 30 months after the monitor gained 2 points month-on-month to 38, just enough to turn the signal from “yellow-red” to “red,” partly helped by non-technology sectors that have emerged from inventory adjustments and eased an imbalanced recovery, NDC Economic Department Director Chiu Chiu-ying (邱秋瑩) said.
The boom came after the reading on exports rose 2 points and the overtime measure in the industrial and service sectors moved up 1 point, offsetting the loss of 1 point on business confidence among manufacturers, the council said.
Photo: CNA
“The momentum should sustain for the rest of this year with the high sales season for technology products approaching,” Chiu said.
The AI frenzy would likely spread from cloud-based data centers to smartphones and personal computers after technology brands release next-generation gadgets in September, thereby ramping up business at local firms, she said.
Shipments of information and communications technology products last month spiked more than twofold on the back of avid spending on AI infrastructure by US technology giants, she added.
At the same time, exports of mineral, chemical, textile and machinery products posted double-digit percentage increases, while shipments of plastic and base metal products resumed growth, although at a slower pace, Chiu said.
The data showed that the ongoing economic rebound is no longer limited to the technology sector, she said.
The index of leading indicators, which aims to project the economic landscape in the next six months, increased 0.7 percent month-on-month to 103.59, rising for nine straight months with a cumulative expansion of 4.6 percent, the council said.
The subindices on export orders, imports of semiconductor equipment, share prices and labor accession rates all posted encouraging signs, it said, adding that the measure on construction floor space proved the only exception.
The index of coincident indicators, which reflects the current economic situation, climbed another 1.43 percent to 105.53, as component measures on exports, electricity use, industrial output and overtime, as well as wholesale, retail and restaurant revenues all showed positive cyclical movements, the council said.
Looking ahead, end-market demand would continue to improve, as inventory adjustments come to an end for most sectors, Chiu said.
However, local firms should remain cautious about uncertainties linked to November’s US presidential election and the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy intentions, as they have important bearings on global trade, she said.
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS