Taiwan’s export orders grew 8.3 percent annually to US$37.93 billion last month, ending 16 straight months of annual decline, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said yesterday.
“The better-than-expected result was mainly driven by the strong orders for electronics components because of Apple Inc’s new iPhone launch,” Department of Statistics Director-General Lin Lee-jen (林麗貞) told a news conference.
The latest figure was US$2 billion more than the ministry’s estimate, Lin added.
Orders for electronics components jumped 16.5 percent year-on-year and 11.8 percent month-on-month to a record level of US$10.44 billion last month, the ministry’s statistics showed.
Orders for semiconductor products, packaging and testing services, and passive components also saw a significant increase due to the iPhone 7 launch, Lin said.
Better-than-expected demand for notebook computers helped boost orders for information technology and communication products to US$10.52 billion, up 6.6 percent annually and 10.1 percent monthly, she said.
Orders for basic metal products reported their first annual growth in the past 21 months, up 10.7 percent to US$2.06 billion, thanks to inventory buildup of steel products, she said.
Orders for precision instrument goods showed an annual decline of 6.9 percent, but the pace narrowed July’s 12.5 percent fall because of higher flat panel demand, she added.
Machinery orders expanded by 10.6 percent year-on-year, while both plastic and petrochemical goods saw their orders end 24 months of annual decline.
US orders increased by 15.1 percent annually and 8.6 percent monthly to US$10.92 billion on the back of the new iPhone launch, while orders from China (including Hong Kong) surged 12.8 percent year-on-year and 11.2 percent month-on-month to US$9.77 billion, supported by smartphones, notebooks and panels demand.
As Apple started shipping its new iPhones from Friday last week, Taiwan’s export orders are expected to continue rising this month.
They could reach a range of between US$41.5 billion and US$43 billion, which would be an annual growth of between 0.48 percent and 4.11 percent, Lin said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last