The Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械工業同業公會) yesterday said the government should keep depreciating the New Taiwan dollar against the US dollar in a bid to boost the nation’s export performance.
“The New Taiwan dollar should be depreciated to between NT$34 and NT$36 against the greenback, otherwise, it will be very tough for Taiwan’s industries to brace for the global economic downturn,” association chairman Alex Ko (柯拔希) told reporters on the sidelines of the association’s 70th anniversary celebrations in Taipei.
Ko said that the machinery industry is heavily influenced by tariffs and the fluctuation of foreign exchange rates, as local manufacturers ship 70 percent of their products abroad.
Photo: CNA
The production value of the industry totaled NT$985 billion (US$29.98 billion) last year, with export value growing 5 percent annually to US$21.59 billion last year, according to the association’s data.
“Exchange rates and tariffs were the main reasons for the annual production value of the industry failing to reach NT$1 trillion over the past few years,” Ko said.
Noting that Japan and South Korea are widely seen as the top competitors to Taiwan’s machinery industry, Ko said the yen has depreciated by more than 35 percent over the past few years.
South Korea’s won also depreciated 35 percent between November 2012 and the end of last year, he said.
In the first eight months of this year, the NT dollar depreciated 3.57 percent against the US dollar to an average of NT$31.24, the association’s statistics showed.
Ko said that while other countries are depreciating their currencies to overcome economic headwinds, the central government should follow the depreciation scale of Taiwan’s neighbors to stimulate the performance of exports.
“Do not let Taiwan’s machinery industry lose the competitive edge at the starting point,” Ko said.
The export value of the industry fell 3.4 percent annually to US$13.37 billion in the first eight months of this year, the association’s data showed.
The NT dollar dropped NT$0.17 against the US dollar to close at NT$32.856 in Taipei trading yesterday.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
RSS