The central bank yesterday said the nation posted a balance of payments surplus of US$4.39 billion for the second quarter this year, widening from surpluses of US$3.88 billion a year earlier and US$2.62 billion in the first quarter.
The balance of payments — which includes the current, financial and capital accounts — summarizes the net amount of money paid or received by the nation.
The bank’s latest statistics showed that the current-account surplus continued increasing last quarter, but the outflow of overseas investments was still on the rise, according to a statement released by the bank.
The current-account surplus in the April-to-June quarter was US$16.47 billion, expanding from a US$14.03 billion surplus in the year-earlier period and compared with a US$15.49 billion surplus in the prior quarter, thanks to a larger increase in exports than in imports over the period, as well as persistent increases in surpluses on services and tourism income.
The bank’s statistics also showed the nation continued seeing a net outflow in the financial account of US$14.37 billion in the second quarter, compared with US$7.42 billion in the same period last year and US$12.95 billion between January and March.
The financial account posted a net outflow for the 16th consecutive quarter last quarter, the longest period of outflow in the nation’s history, as a result of rising overseas investments by domestic investors, according to the bank’s statistics.
However, the bank downplayed any concern over the continued net outflow in the financial account.
“For countries with a current-account surplus, such as Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Germany and Norway, all their financial accounts tend to show a net outflow,” the bank said in the statement.
A closer look at the breakdown of the financial account in the past quarter indicates that residents’ portfolio investments abroad saw a net outflow of US$10.35 billion, non-residents’ portfolio investments recorded a net inflow of US$9.45 billion, while financial derivatives posted a net inflow of US$170 million.
Overall, the nation’s net outflow in the financial account has persisted since the third quarter of 2010, with the cumulative net outflow reaching US$143.43 billion since that time, according to the bank’s statistics.
For the first half of the year, the current account registered a surplus of US$31.92 billion, the financial account showed a net outflow of US$27.47 billion and the overall balance recorded a surplus of US$7.02 billion, reflecting an increase in the central bank’s reserves, the bank said.
COMPETITION: AMD, Intel and Qualcomm are unveiling new laptop and desktop parts in Las Vegas, arguing their technologies provide the best performance for AI workloads Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), the second-biggest maker of computer processors, said its chips are to be used by Dell Technologies Inc for the first time in PCs sold to businesses. The chipmaker unveiled new processors it says would make AMD-based PCs the best at running artificial intelligence (AI) software. Dell has decided to use the chips in some of its computers aimed at business customers, AMD executives said at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Dell’s embrace of AMD for corporate PCs — it already uses the chipmaker for consumer devices — is another blow for Intel Corp as the company
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
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it is teaming up with Nvidia Corp to develop a new chip for artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputers that uses architecture licensed from Arm Holdings PLC. The new product is targeting AI researchers, data scientists and students rather than the mass PC market, the company said. The announcement comes as MediaTek makes efforts to add AI capabilities to its Dimensity chips for smartphones and tablets, Genio family for the Internet of Things devices, Pentonic series of smart TVs, Kompanio line of Arm-based Chromebooks, along with the Dimensity auto platform for vehicles. MeidaTek, the world’s largest chip designer for smartphones
TECH PULL: Electronics heavyweights also attracted strong buying ahead of the CES, analysts said. Meanwhile, Asian markets were mixed amid Trump’s incoming presidency Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) shares yesterday closed at a new high in the wake of a rally among tech stocks on Wall Street on Friday, moving the TAIEX sharply higher by more than 600 points. TSMC, the most heavily weighted stock in the TAIEX, rose 4.65 percent to close at a new high of NT$1,125, boosting its market value to NT$29.17 trillion (US$888 billion) and contributing about 400 points to the TAIEX’s rise. The TAIEX ended up 639.41 points, or 2.79 percent, at 23,547.71. Turnover totaled NT$406.478 billion, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. The surge in TSMC follows a positive performance
RSS