Industrial production last month rose 2.85 percent year-on-year for the sixth consecutive month as the launch of Apple Inc’s new iPhone series boosted demand for advanced chips and electronic components, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Manufacturing output, a pillar of the nation’s industrial output, last month grew 3.1 percent year-on-year, the ministry said.
The increase represented the 18th consecutive month of annual growth, but was lower than the ministry’s 4 percent growth forecast.
“The 18-month upward spiral reflects strong demand from overseas during the electronics industry’s peak season. It also indicates that people are more willing to spend on electronics amid a continuing recovery in the global economy,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) said.
“Last month, the launch of the new iPhone X helped bring the electronic components segment back to positive territory,” he said.
The output of the electronic components segment grew 7.63 percent last month from the previous year, reversing an annual contraction of 1.68 percent in September.
Among the four categories of the electronic components segment, the output of semiconductors grew the most at an annual pace of 10.23 percent as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) beat Samsung Electronics Co to be the sole chip supplier for the latest iPhones, while the flat-panel segment came next with annual growth of 4.33 percent.
The effect of the new smartphone, along with holiday shopping demand from China, the US and Europe, would help extend the momentum into this month, the ministry said.
The growth would provide a cushion against weakness in the petrochemical and steel sectors, as some manufacturers are scheduled to shut down factories for annual maintenance, the ministry said.
The petrochemical and steel sectors are the second and third-highest contributors to the manufacturing sector.
Overall, the manufacturing sector this month is to hold steady from last month, the ministry forecast.
Wang is optimistic about the manufacturing sector for the whole of this year, she said.
“We believe that there is a good chance for the sector to climb to an historical high in light of the uptrend,” she said.
In the first 10 months of this year, manufacturing output increased 4.29 percent annually, the ministry’s data showed.
In a separate release, the ministry said that revenue in the wholesale sector last month rose 3.9 percent year-on-year to NT$859.7 billion (US$28.65 billion) as the smartphone industry enters its peak season.
Meanwhile, rising demand for data centers helped boost sales of memory chips and microprocessors.
Retail revenue increased 3.2 percent annually to US$368.1 billion last month, as shopping malls and department stores launched anniversary promotions to spur sales, causing their sales to jump 6.5 percent to NT$116.6 billion.
Revenue from restaurants rose 2.9 percent to NT$38.4 billion last month, hitting an historical high, as people dined out more to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ten National Day holidays.
Revenue in the wholesale and retail sectors is expected to see additional annual growth this month, the ministry said.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
RSS