Manufacturing sentiment rebounded last month for the second straight month as uncertainties over the global economy gradually fade, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday.
The Taipei-based think tank’s latest report classified the manufacturing sector’s business climate as flashing “blue” — implying a decline — for the sixth straight month.
However, the reading for cyclical movement reached 10.03 points last month, up 0.39 points from the revised 9.64 points posted in July, for the second consecutive month, the report said.
“Despite the sector’s sentiment still being in the slowdown zone, the rising trend for cyclical movement reflected some upsides over the near future,” Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of the institute’s macroeconomic forecasting center, said by telephone.
Sun said he expected the manufacturing sector to start flashing “yellow-blue” — representing weakness — from this month, led by momentum from the electronic components industry.
The launch of new smartphone and tablet products from the late third quarter to the fourth quarter, such as Apple Inc’s iPhone 5 and iPad mini, Google Inc’s Nexus 7 and Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle Fire 2, could help boost sentiment and shipments in the industry, Sun added.
Sun said segments with relatively sluggish sentiment, like the steel and cement industries, may be boosted next year on the back of China’s 12th five-year plan, which runs from last year to 2015.
In the institute’s survey for last month, major industries in the essential goods segment and the transportation segment generally flashed steady “green” and recovering “yellow-red” lights last month under rising demand, the report’s data said.
However, most of the industries in the petrochemical and rubber segments, as well as those in the metal segment, indicated pessimistic sentiment by flashing a “blue” light continuously, the institute’s statistics showed.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS