The nation’s exports last month rose 2.6 percent to US$29 billion — a record high for the period — as demand for electronics from China and the US gained traction, following a contraction of 0.5 percent in July, the Ministry of Finance reported yesterday.
The rebound could prove to be an isolated episode as exports could slip into a contraction this month and next month due to last year’s high comparison base and lingering uncertainty over the global economy, the ministry said.
“Demand for electronics used in high-end smartphones and personal computers picked up from all major partners except for Europe,” Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing in Taipei.
Next-generation smartphones and 5G technology development likely drove the growth, Tsai said.
Apple Inc, Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and other technology giants plan to release new mobile and computing devices this month, which is expected to benefit local firms in their supply chains.
Electronics shipments climbed 7.5 percent to US$10.483 billion with semiconductors growing at a faster 11.7 percent to US$9.37 billion, the ministry’s monthly report showed.
Exports of information and communications products soared 31.4 percent to US$3.8 billion, while optical products increased 2.3 percent to US$1.02 billion, the report showed.
Those products together accounted for 53 percent of all exports.
Exports to China grew 1.1 percent, while shipments to the US swelled 22.8 percent, the report showed.
The ongoing US-China trade dispute has led local firms to shift production home from China, especially for products destined for the US, Tsai said.
The rapid increase in exports to the US did not mean business had improved for local firms, but was a reflection of their production adjustments, she said.
Order transfers benefited some local firms, explaining why shipments of memory chips improved, Tsai said, adding that the trade row between Japan and South Korea probably accounted for order transfers.
Imports remained soft, declining 2.7 percent from a year earlier to US$23.02 billion, due to cheaper oil and raw material prices that led to a trade surplus of US$5.98 billion for last month, nearly 30 percent higher than last year’s figure, the report showed.
Capital equipment imports grew a fractional 0.7 percent after imports of semiconductor equipment shrank 6.1 percent from a year earlier, the report showed.
Looking forward, Tsai said that exports could contract by 1 to 2.5 percent this month due to a high comparison base from September last year, which surpassed the US$29.5 billion mark.
For the first eight months of the year, total exports fell 2.3 percent to US$215.41 billion, while imports dropped 1.1 percent to US$185.94 billion, the report showed.
ENERGY ISSUES: The TSIA urged the government to increase natural gas and helium reserves to reduce the impact of the Middle East war on semiconductor supply stability Chip testing and packaging service provider ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控) yesterday said it planned to invest more than NT$100 billion (US$3.15 billion) in building a new advanced chip testing facility in Kaohsiung to keep up with customer demand driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. That would be included in the company’s capital expenditure budget next year, ASE said. There is also room to raise this year’s capital spending budget from a record-high US$7 billion estimated three months ago, it added. ASE would have six factories under construction this year, another record-breaking number, ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
For weeks now, the global tech industry has been waiting for a major artificial intelligence (AI) launch from DeepSeek (深度求索), seen as a benchmark for China’s progress in the fast-moving field. More than a year has passed since the start-up put Chinese AI on the map in early last year with a low-cost chatbot that performed at a similar level to US rivals. However, despite reports and rumors about its imminent release, DeepSeek’s next-generation “V4” model is nowhere in sight. Speculation is also swirling over the geopolitical implications of which computer chips were chosen to train and power the new
Intel Corp is joining Elon Musk’s long-shot effort to develop semiconductors for Tesla Inc, Space Exploration Technologies Corp and xAI, marking a surprising twist in the chipmaker’s comeback bid. Intel would help the Terafab project “refactor” the technology in a chip factory, the company said on Tuesday in a post on X, Musk’s social media platform. That is a stage in the development process that typically helps make chips more powerful or reliable. The chipmaker’s shares jumped 4.2 percent to US$52.91 in New York trading on Tuesday. The Terafab project is a grand plan by Musk to eventually manufacture his own chips for
RSS