The surging New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar may prevent the nation's export-oriented laptop computer makers from meeting their monthly targets, an industry observer said yesterday.
"Notebook makers' sales for November are expected to see less-than-expected growth brought on by the rapidly appreciating NT dollar," Daphne Cheng (
The local currency has risen by about 3 percent versus its US counterpart so far this month, and such appreciation may eat into laptop makers' revenue stream by the same ratio or even more over the same time, Cheng said.
The NT dollar closed last Friday at NT$32.554 against the greenback on the Taipei foreign exchange market, with a drop of NT$0.134 from NT$32.420 the previous day. That was the highest in almost four years.
As a result, Quanta Computer Inc (
Quanta, the world's largest laptop maker, generated NT$40.10 billion in sales last month, up 31.26 percent from NT$30.55 billion in September.
Compal saw its sales rise a record 21.9 percent month-by-month to NT$23.11 billion.
If the NT dollar continues to surge, foreign investors may have to cut their revenue forecasts for next year, Cheng said, as their forecasts were made on an exchange-rate level of between NT$33.5 and NT$34 to US$1.
Local industry leaders are once again begging the central bank to intervene.
"The authorities should do something to stem the NT dollar from large-scale fluctuation that leads to a great impact on the nation's [export-oriented] industries," said Luo Huai-jia (
The association has about 4,200 members.
Luo called on the government to formulate assistance measures, such as low-interest loans, to help the highly profitable sector to weather current "difficulties."
The Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI, 工商協進會) also said in a statement that the rising local currency has greatly eroded the competitiveness of the local textile sector.
In response, a government official yesterday called on local manufacturers to speed up the globalization of their business operations as a way to reduce the negative impact of a weaker US dollar on their exports.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (
But Chen said the ministry is not worried that this appreciation will accelerate domestic manufacturers' "go west" policy.
He also said that the NT dollar's recent appreciation was "acceptable," because the Japanese yen and the Korean won have appreciated against the US dollar even more sharply over the past two weeks.
While a strengthening NT dollar has an impact on export prices, import prices for semi-finished products, raw materials and key spare parts and components required for export product manufacturing are also falling at the same time, he said.
Although the Chinese yuan is also facing growing pressure to appreciate, it is still pegged to the greenback, thus leaving Taiwan in a more advantageous position than Japan and South Korea, Chen said.
Local manufacturers with operations in China can therefore directly export from China those items which are prone to be affected by foreign exchange fluctuations, he said.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
SECTOR LEADER: TSMC can increase capacity by as much as 20 percent or more in the advanced node part of the foundry market by 2030, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to lead its peers in the advanced 2-nanometer process technology, despite competition from Samsung Electronics Co and Intel Corp, TrendForce Corp analyst Joanne Chiao (喬安) said. TSMC’s sophisticated products and its large production scale are expected to allow the company to continue dominating the global 2-nanometer process market this year, Chiao said. The world’s largest contract chipmaker is scheduled to begin mass production of chips made on the 2-nanometer process in its Hsinchu fab in the second half of this year. It would also hold a ceremony on Monday next week to
TECH CLUSTER: The US company’s new office is in the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City, a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan US chip designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday launched an office in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁), marking a significant milestone in the development of southern Taiwan’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, the Tainan City Government said in a statement. AMD Taiwan general manager Vincent Chern (陳民皓) presided over the opening ceremony for the company’s new office at the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City (沙崙智慧綠能科學城), a new AI industry base and cybersecurity hub in southern Taiwan. Facilities in the new office include an information processing center, and a research and development (R&D) center, the Tainan Economic Development Bureau said. The Ministry
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
RSS