The nation’s exports gained 7.3 percent to US$29.57 billion last month, accelerating from a 2.6 percent increase in September, as demand for electronic components remained strong, despite growing uncertainty over the global economy, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The latest figure represented the third-highest in history for the same month, thanks to demand for semiconductors used in smartphones, computing devices, as well as Internet of Things and artificial intelligence applications, the ministry said.
Higher oil and commodity prices also lent support to robust outbound shipments, it said.
“The pace of growth might moderate to a low single-digit number this month and beyond, consistent with the trend for the entire second half of the year,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
A relatively high base last year and an ongoing trade row between the US and China would contribute to the slowdown, Tsai said.
The ministry declined to comment on Apple Inc’s iPhone sales after the US technology giant told investors it would not provide sales details starting this quarter.
Taiwanese firms supply chips, camera lenses, casings, battery packs and other parts for Apple’s smartphones, laptops and wearable devices.
Electronics exports edged up 1 percent to US$10.11 billion last month, accounting for 34.2 percent of total exports, the ministry’s report showed.
Non-technology products grew more rapidly, aided partly by a 43 percent gain in oil prices from a year earlier, the ministry said.
Exports of mineral products surged 52.3 percent from a year earlier, while chemicals and base metals improved by 24.4 percent and 14.2 percent respectively, it said.
Optical products bucked the trend, edging down 0.6 percent due to a supply glut.
Imports fared better, increasing 17.6 percent from a year earlier to US$26.21 billion last month, a four-and-a-half-year high, the report said.
Faster imports slowed the trade surplus to US$3.36 billion, a 36.2 percent retreat from a year earlier, it said.
The trend might weigh on external demand’s contribution to GDP going forward as it did last quarter, officials said.
Moreover, capital equipment imports contracted 1.5 percent, with the decline widening to 15.3 percent for semiconductor equipment, Tsai said.
Several local technology firms have lowered capital spending for this year to accommodate customers’ inventory adjustments.
Cumulative exports rose 8 percent to US$279.66 billion during the January-to-October period, while imports expanded 12.5 percent to US$239.61 billion, the report said.
Outbound shipments might hit a record for the full year, Tsai 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