The consumer confidence index (CCI) rose to a new high in almost a year and a half this month as more people regained confidence in the economy, a survey released yesterday showed.
The index gained 4.11 points to 60.56 — slightly higher than June last year’s 60.23 — but still significantly below the neutral 100-point mark, according to the survey by the Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development at National Central University.
Of the six measures, the reading on the economic outlook saw the biggest increase, rebounding 9.5 points to 53.55, the highest in 17 months, the poll said. The employment outlook sub-index reported the second-strongest improvement, up 6.3 points to 38.9, after the jobless rate slowed last month.
The sub-index on household income also improved to 56.95, from 52.35 a month earlier, said the poll, which questioned 2,400 Taiwanese aged 20 and above between Oct. 19 and 22.
Meanwhile, the sub-indexes on durable goods purchases and stock investment rose 1.85 points and 1.8 points to 84.5 and 85.2 respectively, the survey said.
The reading on future commodity prices saw the least increase — 0.6 points to 44.25, from 43.65 a month earlier, the poll said.
Although all six sub-indexes gained ground, their value remained low, the survey said, adding that any reading below 100 indicates pessimistic sentiment.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by