Supported by the launch of new handheld devices in the global market, the nation’s export orders last month increased for the third consecutive month to US$38.42 billion, up 5.8 percent month-on-month and 2 percent year-on-year, according to a government report released yesterday.
However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs warned that export orders for the whole of this year might contract from last year, despite strong support from the information and communication sector.
During the first nine months of the year, cumulative orders dropped 0.8 percent to US$319.98 billion from the US$322.51 billion a year earlier, the ministry said.
“Export orders continue to receive boost from tech firms’ new mobile devices, and such growth may be sustained throughout the end of the year due to rising holiday demand,” ministry statistics department director Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) said at a press conference.
However, orders for this month are likely to decline slightly from last month, as weakening demand in emerging markets continues, Lin said.
Thanks to new product launches by Apple Inc, Samsung Electronics Co and Sony Corp last month, Taiwan’s export orders for information and communication products last month expanded 23.3 percent month-on-month and 16.2 percent year-on-year to US$11.05 billion, according to the report.
On the back of strong demand for handheld devices, orders of electronics including semiconductors grew 7.8 percent month-on-month and 5.6 percent year-on-year to US$9.34 billion last month, the report said.
Nevertheless, weak demand in the global market amid slow economic recovery still could not help lift orders for precision equipments and traditional goods made by Taiwanese firms, as the report showed orders for precision equipment last month totaled US$2.92 billion, up 2.5 percent month-on-month increase, but down 17.8 percent year-on-year.
Meanwhile, orders for basic metals last month decreased 3.9 percent month-on-month and 5.6 percent year-on-year to US$2.15 billion, while orders for machinery dropped 1.7 percent month-on-month and 9.6 percent year-on-year to US$1.55 billion last month.
Because of annual maintenance for local petroleum refining plants, orders for plastics fell 5.3 percent month-on-month and 0.1 percent year-on-year to US$1.93 billion, while those for chemical products decreased 3.9 percent month-on-month and 1 percent year-on-year to US$1.78 billion.
Last month, orders from the US and Europe grew 7 percent and 15.7 percent on an annual basis respectively, while those from China, Japan and ASEAN countries decreased by 6.1 percent, 1.4 percent and 1.4 percent each, according to the report.
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