The score of economic monitoring indicators rose to its highest level in about three years, suggesting that the country’s economy is on track for a steady growth, the National Development Council said yesterday.
The indicators score rose four points to 29 last month, from 25 points the previous month, on the back of higher year-on-year growth in stock prices, industrial production, exports and sales of trade and food services, according to a council report issued yesterday.
As a result, the council’s index of monitoring indicators flashed “green” for the third month last month, the report showed.
The council uses a five-color spectrum to categorize the nation’s economic health, with “blue” signaling recession, “green” steady growth and “red” overheating, while “yellow-blue” indicates a transition between recession and growth, and “yellow-red” represents a transition between growth and overheating.
“The score rising last month was not because of one single factor, but because of multiple improvements in many economic aspects, which is a clear sign of economic improvement,” council Deputy Minister Chen Chien-liang (陳建良), said at a press conference yesterday.
Chen said the signal is likely to remain “green” for this month, given current economic conditions.
However, Chen said he does not expect the signal to turn “yellow-red” in the second half of this year.
“Taiwan’s economy is more likely to recover at its current pace for a while, before it goes to a higher level of growth,” Chen said.
Chen said GDP growth is likely to increase to 3 percent this year, higher than the latest forecast of 2.98 percent given by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics on Friday last week.
The index of leading economic indicators, which is used to gauge the nation’s short-term economic outlook, posted its 20th consecutive increase to 101.31 points last month, up 0.18 percent from 101.13 points a month ago, according to the council.
The index of coincident indicators, which reflects monthly economic conditions, reported its ninth consecutive increase last month to 101.07 points, up 0.25 percent from 100.82 points a month earlier, the council added.
Gordon Sun (孫明德), director of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research’s (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) economic forecasting center, said the “green” signal should not be interpreted as pointing to economic recovery, but as the result of a low base level.
A more obvious economic improvement for the nation is likely to come in the third quarter, which is the peak season for exports, Sun said.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six