Taiwan was the world’s No. 3 cellphone exporter in 2011, lagging rivals China and South Korea, but ahead of other Asian competitors such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said on Tuesday.
Statistics released by UNCTAD showed that Taiwanese cellphone exports for 2011 totaled US$10.55 billion (NT$312.3 billion), up from NT$7.56 billion in 2010 and NT$3.72 billion in 2009.
In 2009, Taiwan was the world’s eighth-largest cellphone exporter, after China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Hungary, Mexico, the US and Finland, the UN agency said. In 2010, it became the fifth-largest exporter, behind China, South Korea, Hungary and Mexico.
In 2011, Taiwan made another leap and took the lead over Hungary, Hong Kong, Mexico, the US, Singapore, Germany and India, while Finland dropped out of the top 10 exporters’ list, the agency said.
UNCTAD said China’s cellphone exports totaled US$63.19 billion in 2011, compared with the US$47.06 billion recorded in 2010 and up from US$39.79 billion in 2009.
Although South Korea sold more cellphones than Taiwan in 2011, its exports fell to US$15.08 billion in 2011 from US$15.29 billion in 2010 and US$18.13 billion in 2009.
UNCTAD pegged global cellphone imports for 2011 at US$174 billion, making cellphones the largest imported item among various information and communications technology (ICT) devices.
Global exports of ICT products, including cellphones, notebooks and tablet computers, in 2011 rose 4 percent from a year earlier to US$1.8 trillion.
The agency said Asia’s ICT product exports totaled US$1.2 trillion, which accounted for about 66 percent of the global total.
The top five ICT exporters in 2011 were China, with sales of US$508 billion, followed by Hong Kong with US$193.5 billion, the US with US$140.5 billion, Singapore with US$118.3 billion and Taiwan with US$105.7 billion, UNCTAD said.
Taiwan was the world’s ninth-largest ICT product importer in 2011, purchasing US$51.8 billion worth of merchandise. China was the largest buyer, with imports totaling US$313 billion, ahead of the US’ US$290.5 billion, Hong Kong’s US$206.4 billion and Japan’s US$86.7 billion.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”