Having received approval from lawmakers in both countries, a long-discussed trade pact between Taiwan and New Zealand will take effect on Dec. 1, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Wednesday.
The Agreement between New Zealand and the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu on Economic Cooperation (ANZTEC) became Taiwan’s first trade deal with a country that does not have diplomatic ties with Taipei when the two sides signed it on July 10.
The ANZTEC is thought to represent an important step forward for trade-oriented Taiwan’s long-term development.
In addition to tariff elimination and greater service market access, the pact contains 25 chapters that cover a wide range of topics. Among those are labor, environment, open skies air links, film and television co-production, and exchanges between the indigenous peoples of both countries.
The conclusion of the trade agreement brings Taiwan one step closer to pursuing entry into regional trade blocs and forging deeper connections in the Asia-Pacific region and the rest of the world, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Initial ANZTEC tariff reductions are expected to boost Taiwan’s GDP by US$303 million, according to the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research’s estimate. It would create 6,255 jobs in Taiwan and spur an increase in production value across all sectors totaling NT$35.63 billion (US$1.2 billion), the institution predicted.
ADVANCED: Previously, Taiwanese chip companies were restricted from building overseas fabs with technology less than two generations behind domestic factories Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, would no longer be restricted from investing in next-generation 2-nanometer chip production in the US, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. However, the ministry added that the world’s biggest contract chipmaker would not be making any reckless decisions, given the weight of its up to US$30 billion investment. To safeguard Taiwan’s chip technology advantages, the government has barred local chipmakers from making chips using more advanced technologies at their overseas factories, in China particularly. Chipmakers were previously only allowed to produce chips using less advanced technologies, specifically
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TARIFF SURGE: The strong performance could be attributed to the growing artificial intelligence device market and mass orders ahead of potential US tariffs, analysts said The combined revenue of companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange for the whole of last year totaled NT$44.66 trillion (US$1.35 trillion), up 12.8 percent year-on-year and hit a record high, data compiled by investment consulting firm CMoney showed on Saturday. The result came after listed firms reported a 23.92 percent annual increase in combined revenue for last month at NT$4.1 trillion, the second-highest for the month of December on record, and posted a 15.63 percent rise in combined revenue for the December quarter at NT$12.25 billion, the highest quarterly figure ever, the data showed. Analysts attributed the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) quarterly sales topped estimates, reinforcing investor hopes that the torrid pace of artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending would extend into this year. The go-to chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported a 39 percent rise in December-quarter revenue to NT$868.5 billion (US$26.35 billion), based on calculations from monthly disclosures. That compared with an average estimate of NT$854.7 billion. The strong showing from Taiwan’s largest company bolsters expectations that big tech companies from Alphabet Inc to Microsoft Corp would continue to build and upgrade datacenters at a rapid clip to propel AI development. Growth accelerated for
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