The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised downward its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth for this year from a March estimate of 1.6 percent to 1.1 percent, attributing the adjustment mainly to the nation’s weak economy in the first quarter, according to a report released yesterday.
The growth forecast for Taiwan is the lowest among the four “Asian Tigers,” lagging behind the 2.6 percent forecast for South Korea, 2.2 percent for Singapore and 1.5 percent for Hong Kong, according to the Asian Development Outlook 2016 report.
Taiwan’s export-driven economy contracted by 0.7 percent in the first quarter of this year, as demand for goods remained sluggish, the report said.
Capital and inventory investment contracted in response to increasing political uncertainty, it said.
Private and government consumption was unable to offset the slowdown in trade and investment, it said, adding that the latest indicators from the second quarter confirm that economic activity continued to be weak.
As immediate recovery looks unlikely, the growth forecast for Taiwan is downgraded from 1.8 percent to 1.6 percent next year, the report said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
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POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
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