Industrial production weakened for a fourth consecutive month last month, as manufacturers faced intense competition in the global market and the adverse impact of a weak yen, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The industrial production index last month declined 0.07 percent from a year ago, but improved 4.86 percent from April, the ministry told a press conference.
Production in the manufacturing sector — which accounts for more than 90 percent of the nation’s total factory output — declined 0.91 percent year-on-year, but increased 4.26 percent month-on-month last month.
“The annual drop in manufacturing output was very near zero last month, which shows an improvement in the manufacturing sector,” said Yang Kuei-hsien (楊貴顯), deputy director-general of the ministry’s statistics department.
The ministry attributed last month’s results to improved output in the fields of semiconductors, LED, optical materials, oil products, medical supplies, automobiles, cleaning products and cosmetics.
Yang said manufacturing output could post growth this month, bolstered by the strong demand for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, as well as a low base in June last year.
The robust demand for handheld devices is expected to continue driving demand for high-end chips and wafers using advanced process technologies, he added.
The ministry’s latest survey of local manufacturers also showed that 70.1 percent of those polled expected the industrial production index to be unchanged this month, 18 percent predicted a drop and 11.9 percent projected an increase.
The ministry yesterday also released its latest commercial trade data for last month, which showed that combined sales in the retail, wholesale and food & beverage sectors dropped 1.9 percent year-on-year to NT$1.18 trillion (US$39.19 billion) last month.
However, the figure rose 2.2 percent from April.
Concern over food safety following the discovery of tainted starch led to slower restaurant sales, which dropped 1.8 percent to NT$27.8 billion last month from NT$28.3 billion during the same period last year.
However, compared with the previous month’s NT$24.8 billion, restaurant sales still rose 12.1 percent last month, the ministry’s data showed.
The ministry said sales of “pearl tea,” a popular drink, were affected by the food scare, but beverage sales in general grew 10.1 percent year-on-year to NT$3.6 billion last month because of a wide variety of choice for customers.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks