Taiwan’s economy is expected to improve over the next six months, while the New Taiwan dollar will depreciate against the US dollar, the Germany-based Ifo Institute said.
In its latest quarterly World Economic Survey, Ifo said that Taiwan’s exports, which account for about 60 percent of the nation’s GDP, would continue to pick up, while local consumer prices would increase accordingly.
Government data show that Taiwan’s exports rose an annual 9.4 percent last month, marking the seventh consecutive month of year-on-year growth.
In the first four months of this year, exports rose 13.6 percent year-on-year to US$96.42 billion.
Private consumption in Taiwan will stage a rebound over the next six months after stagnating in the first quarter, while capital formation is also expected to improve, Ifo said.
The survey on Taiwan’s economy was released following Ifo’s interviews with 15 experts from economic think tanks, financial institutions and academic circles, the National Development Council said.
The German research group said the NT dollar will fall against the greenback at a time when the US Federal Reserve is pursuing a rate hike cycle on the back of the improving economy of that nation.
As for the global economy, Ifo said the fundamentals improved significantly in the second quarter with the Ifo World Economic Climate index rising from 2.6 points in the first quarter to 13 points, marking the highest growth since January 2013.
Ifo said that its expectations for the global economy also increased after it interviewed 1,118 economic experts from 120 nations.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in