CHINA
Manufacturing activity rises
Manufacturing activity accelerated last month, a survey showed yesterday. The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said its purchasing managers index rose to 52.4 from October’s 51.6 on a 100-point scale, on which numbers above 50 show activity accelerating. Components of the survey, which measure imports, exports and new orders, all improved, while employment indicators fell to the lowest level in a year. Manufacturing activity is likely to slow despite the latest positive indicators, Capital Economics Ltd economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said.
JAPAN
Factory output edges up
Factory output edged up in October, government data showed yesterday. Factory output rose 0.5 percent month-on-month in October, the industry ministry said, following a 1.0 percent drop in September. However, the increase was below market expectations of a 1.8 percent rise, as falls in the production of electronic devices and petroleum products offset gains in electrical machinery and transport equipment.
SWITZERLAND
Economic growth quickens
Economic expansion accelerated in the third quarter, growing at the fastest pace since late 2014 when the central bank still had a currency cap in place. GDP rose 0.6 percent in the three months through September after a revised 0.4 percent in the previous quarter, the State Secretariat for International Economic Affairs said yesterday. Consumption by Swiss private households rose 0.4 percent, while government demand increased 0.5 percent and investment in equipment grew 0.9 percent in the third quarter.
DENMARK
Growth revised downward
The economy shrank more than analysts feared last quarter, with preliminary numbers suggesting the country suffered its worst contraction since 2011. GDP fell 0.6 percent in the third quarter from the previous three-month period, Statistics Denmark said yesterday. Quarterly growth in the second quarter was revised down to 0.6 percent from 0.7 percent, the statistics office said. Exports fell 1 percent in the quarter, while private consumption declined 0.6 percent, led by a slump in vehicle purchases. Gross investments fell 2.1 percent, the office said.
UNITED STATES
Business boasts optimism
The economy grew at a modest to moderate pace through the middle of last month as price pressures strengthened and the labor market tightened, a Federal Reserve survey showed. The central bank’s Beige Book report, based on anecdotal information collected by the 12 regional Fed banks through Nov. 17, said business contacts reported a brightening view as they look ahead. The data followed a Department of Commerce report released on Wednesday, showing that the economy expanded at a 3.3 percent annualized pace in the third quarter.
FOREIGN TRADE
IMF projects 4.2% increase
The IMF is projecting that the volume of trade in goods and services will have climbed 4.2 percent during this year, up from 2.4 percent last year. That would be the first time that trade has outpaced output growth since 2014 and harks back to the pre-crisis days when such outperformance was a regular occurrence. “The global economy appears set to remain in good shape next year as the broad-based economic strength seen this year carries over,” Oxford Economics said.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a
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