The nation’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are third on a list of the most pessimistic regional companies regarding future economic prospects, next to those in HSBC’s (匯豐銀行) bi-annual survey found on Friday.
About 65 percent of Taiwanese SMEs polled in the survey said they expected the local economy to deteriorate in the next six months, compared to 18 percent in the last survey, conducted six months ago, the bank’s press statement said.
SMEs in Hong Kong are the most pessimistic with 87 percent of them anticipating a deteriorating economy in the first quarter of this year while 82 percent of small businesses in Singapore also believed so, the statement said.
The survey further found that 51 percent of Taiwanese SMEs planned to cut costs to weather the current recession, while only a meager 11 percent of respondents, down from 28 percent a year earlier, may put down investments.
In spite of slow business, as many as 87 percent of Taiwanese SMEs said they had no plans to lay off employees, while another 6 percent said they may downsize, the bank’s survey showed.
Similarly, 66 percent of SMEs in Hong Kong and 69 percent of those in South Korea said they would also cut costs, but few said they would begin to fire employees.
Only 7 percent of SMEs in Hong Kong said they would lay off staff, the survey showed.
In contrast, SMEs from Bangladesh and Vietnam were the most optimistic about future economic growth.
Around 80 percent of Bangladeshi SMEs were expecting trade to grow, while 46 percent of Vietnamese SMEs believed trade with China would be on the rise.
Meanwhile, Taiwan ranked fifth in the world in terms of its overall investment environment, the latest survey by the US-based Business Environment Risk Intelligence company said.
In the company’s third survey for last year released on Dec. 1, Taiwan’s rating remained the same as in the previous survey in August, although the country’s profit opportunity recommendation scores dropped by one point to 72, a press release posted on Saturday on the Ministry of Economic Affairs Web site said.
The top four countries in the survey of 50 major states worldwide were Switzerland, Singapore, the Netherlands and Norway.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
IN THE AIR: While most companies said they were committed to North American operations, some added that production and costs would depend on the outcome of a US trade probe Leading local contract electronics makers Wistron Corp (緯創), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶) are to maintain their North American expansion plans, despite Washington’s 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods. Wistron said it has long maintained a presence in the US, while distributing production across Taiwan, North America, Southeast Asia and Europe. The company is in talks with customers to align capacity with their site preferences, a company official told the Taipei Times by telephone on Friday. The company is still in talks with clients over who would bear the tariff costs, with the outcome pending further
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
RSS