The implementation of sanctions on the Philippines, such as suspending economic exchanges and freezing Filipino worker applications, will have limited impact on the economy, government officials said.
Even if the situation deteriorates further, it would not pose a significant threat to the nation’s economy because of the relatively low trade volume between the two countries, they said.
“I am confident that businesses have the ability to cope with the impact of these measures,” Minister of Economic Affairs Chang Chia-juch (張家祝) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee on Thursday.
There are about 87,000 Filipino workers in Taiwan, accounting for 20 percent of all foreign workers in Taiwan, the government’s data showed.
“The sanctions are more likely to slow down the growth of trade between the two nations, rather than reduce the current trade level,” Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) told lawmakers at the meeting.
Last year, Taiwan’s exports to the Philippines amounted to US$8.88 billion, accounting for 2.95 percent of the nation’s total exports, while imports from the Philippines were US$2.13 billion, or 0.78 percent of total imports, official data showed.
TRADE SURPLUS
“Taiwan enjoyed a trade surplus of US$6.7 billion with the Philippines last year, which accounts for only 1.5 percent of our GDP,” Kuan said.
However, Kuan said companies with large investments in the Philippines might suffer more if relations deteriorate further.
There are between 600 and 700 Taiwanese companies operating in the Philippines, especially in the Metro Manila area, including contract notebook maker Wistron Corp (緯創), PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and food maker Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業).
The two countries have co-developed the Subic Bay Industrial Park, with 51 Taiwanese companies investing US$350 million in the park, the ministry said.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is