Taiwan is expected to maintain a reasonable economic growth rate next year, although the slowdown in the US economy will affect Asian markets, which have become very reliant on exports to the US, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services yesterday.
The nation's exports to the US stood at US$27.19 billion during the first 10 months of the year, accounting for 14.7 percent of total exports, second only to exports to Hong Kong and China at US$73.29 billion, or 39.6 percent, government tallies showed yesterday.
"A slowdown in the US will hit the Asian economies, but not as much as what people think," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, during a press briefing in Taipei.
If the US economic growth rate drops by about 1 percentage point, China might slow down by half a point, Wyss said.
Asked about the possible impacts of the recent political tension on the economy and investor confidence, Wyss said he could not comment on the issue without gaining a better understanding of the domestic situation.
A look at global economies would show that Taiwan is not alone in suffering from political scandals, which might not necessarily affect industrial and business sentiment, the New York-based economist added.
On the currency front, Wyss forecast that the greenback would depreciate by 5 percent to 10 percent by the end of next year. If the US dollar goes down by 10 percent against the euro, the NT dollar is expected to appreciate by about 5 percent, he said.
Last week the NT dollar recorded its biggest weekly gain of 1.1 percent in six months, closing at NT$32.92 against the US dollar on Friday as better-than-expected earnings from companies including Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (
The local currency continued its climb against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, rising NT$0.11 to close at NT$32.84 on turnover of US$1.013 billion.
Lehman Brothers also issued an economic report yesterday, echoing Standard & Poor's view on the nation's slowing export growth.
Lehman economist Rob Subbaraman forecast that exports were unlikely to rise at the same pace as before, as the growth in export orders decelerated sharply for four consecutive months -- from 26 percent year-on-year in May to 12 percent in September.
The slowing global economy, especially in the US and China, is starting to have a negative impact on Taiwan's exports, Subbaraman said in the report.
Lehman Brothers warned that the prolonged political uncertainty would hurt investment, while the sharp rise in household debt, coupled with rising rates, was constraining consumption.
It further predicted that the consumer price index (CPI), after dropping 1.19 percent last month for the third consecutive month would reverse up by about 1 percent by the end of the year, because of the disinflating forces of weak domestic demand, easing oil prices and fierce competition in the region, the report said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six