Growth in manufacturing production is expected to swing back into positive territory this quarter, following six consecutive quarters of annual declines, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
“The semiconductor and flat-panel industries will be the main growth drivers in the production value of the nation’s manufacturing sector this quarter,” an official at the ministry’s Department of Statistics said by telephone.
The official, who declined to be named, said semiconductor output should receive a boost from the launch of new smartphones and virtual reality devices this quarter.
As for the flat-panel industry, the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro sparked replacement demand for televisions and lifted panel prices over the past few months, the official said.
Production adjustments by Japanese and South Korean manufacturers have prompted several global TV brands to reallocate their orders to Taiwanese manufacturers this quarter, she added.
While manufacturing output might emerge from a downturn this quarter, partly due to a lower comparison base last year, the sector needs to keep a close watch on global crude oil and steel price trends, the official said.
“Stable oil and steel prices would definitely help production value to grow this quarter,” she said.
Last quarter, the manufacturing sector’s production value dropped 8.06 percent annually to NT$3.65 trillion (US$115.44 billion), falling for the sixth straight quarter, but up 8.64 percent from the prior quarter, the first quarterly growth in the past four quarters, ministry data showed.
The official attributed the quarterly growth to higher output from semiconductors and steel as demand for communication chips boosted semiconductor output, while inventory restocking lifted steel production.
Chinese measures to curb steel production and an improving auto industry also lent support to Taiwan’s steel and base metal industries last quarter, she added.
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