The nation’s economy last quarter expanded 2.41 percent annually, beating the government’s May estimate of 1.78 percent on the back of better-than-expected private investment and exports, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.
“Exports and private investment fared stronger than our expectations, thanks to order transfers and capital repatriation,” DGBAS Senior Executive Officer Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) told a media briefing in Taipei.
External demand contributed 0.72 percentage points to GDP growth during the April-to-June period, versus a drag three months earlier, as the decline in exports tapered to 2.58 percent. The agency had forecast a 3.43 percent decline.
Photo: Cheng Chi-fang, Taipei Times
Demand for semiconductors and electronics, the mainstay of Taiwanese exports, started to pick up, although most other categories continued to disappoint, Huang said.
As several firms have shifted part of their manufacturing capacity back home amid a trade dispute between China and the US, exports of information and communications products increased 20.15 percent, the agency said.
Exports are likely to gain more momentum after returning to growth in June, thanks to the arrival of a peak season for technology products, the Ministry of Finance said last month.
Major technology firms gave positive guidance in recent earnings conferences, but were wary of headwinds at home and abroad.
Exports of goods and services would grow 4.11 percent annually if excluding a price decline of 5.57 percent in US dollar terms, Huang said.
Capital formation proved the biggest growth driver with a 6.04 percent increase from a year earlier, contributing 1.23 percentage points to GDP growth, the agency said.
The showing beat the agency’s May forecast of a 5.3 percent gain.
“The pace of capital repatriation is much faster than the government’s expectations,” Huang said.
Imports of capital equipment rose 15.95 percent in US dollar terms, as firms raised capital expenditure to maintain technology leadership and seize 5G business opportunities, DGBAS said.
Consumer spending rose 1.57 percent, slower than a projection of 1.76 percent, the agency said.
Meanwhile, daily stock turnover shrank 21.17 percent from a year earlier, subduing the benefits of modest growth in retail, wholesale and dining businesses, it said.
Washington’s tariff hikes on Chinese goods in May unnerved investors, but the sentiment has recovered considerably after the two sides agreed on a truce in June and resumed trade negotiations this week.
In the first two quarters, Taiwan’s economy grew 2.07 percent and is expected to continue growing in the coming quarters.
The agency is to announce its new growth forecast on Aug. 16.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
RSS