Taiwan's economy saw a slight bounce last month with the composite index of leading economic indicators rising 1.5 percent to 107.4 points from May, largely due to the slower growth of wholesale prices and rising stock prices, according to a report released by the Council for Economic Planning and Development yesterday.
Last month's gain was first since May last year, the council said in its report.
Improvement in another four components of the leading indicators -- M1B money supply, floor area permitted for construction, manufacturers' new orders and the amount of exports clearing customs -- also helped to push up the indicators, the council said in its report.
A decrease in average work hours in the manufacturing sector eased the rising curve somewhat, the council said.
According to the council's poll, manufacturing sales increased by 2.1 percent from the previous month, and 0.5 percent from a year ago.
New orders also increased by 1.7 percent from May, a 3.8 percent increase from the same period last year.
However, the average equipment utilization rate was 79.6 percent, down by 0.2 percent from May and 0.7 percent from a year ago, while sales profitability, stood at 4 percent last, a drop of 0.1 percent from last month and last year, according to the report.
The council uses a five-color spectrum to gauge the economy's health and the spectrum continued to flash the "yellow-blue" light last month, the report said, although the monitoring indicators rose by 2 points.
Yellow-blue indicates a slowdown, while blue indicates recession, green means steady growth, yellow-red a slight overheating and red an absolute overheating.
The improvement in the indicators shows that the economy is picking up vitality and entering a new phase of accelerating growth, the council said.
The council also conducted a survey of manufacturers last month, and 21 percent of respondents expected the economy to be better over the next three months, up from the revised 18 percent a month earlier, while another 16 percent held a negative view, down from 17 percent a month earlier.
Looking ahead, the economy will be wary of high energy prices and the fear of terrorist attacks, but the negative effect will be offset by the recovering US economy, as well as strong demand for electronics and information technology products, the council's report said.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI