Industrial production last month increased 1.51 percent year-on-year, the smallest annual increase in four months, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of Statistics said in a report yesterday.
Largely dependent on the nation’s manufacturing sector, industrial production grew last month due to an increase in output from the electronic components industry, and the computer, electronic goods and optical components industry, the report said.
Making up more than 40 percent of production within the manufacturing sector, the electronic components industry reported a 22.15 percent year-on-year surge in output, marking its the sixth consecutive month of double-digit annual increase, the ministry said.
The industry’s growth was due to the accelerating deployment of 5G technology and high-performance computing, the ministry said, adding that distance learning and remote work driven by the COVID-19 pandemic continued to play an important role in the industry’s robust output.
Production of integrated circuits soared 36.01 percent year-on-year last month, while that of LCD panels and related parts increased 6.15 percent, data compiled by the ministry showed.
Output from the computer, electronic goods and optical components industry increased 9.8 percent year-on-year.
Propelled by an increase in demand for servers, laptops, network and communication devices, and computer equipment due to lockdowns worldwide, the industry’s growth was nevertheless somewhat hampered by waning demand for smartphones amid a sluggish global economy, the ministry said.
As COVID-19 continues to spread, dampening market sentiment and causing companies to shelve their investments, Taiwan’s non-tech industries remain the nation’s worst-hit victims.
Last month, the machinery equipment, base metal and metal parts industries reported a 15.37 percent, 9.81 percent and 18.44 percent annual decline in output respectively, ministry data showed.
While suffering from diminishing market demand, other traditional sectors have also taken a beating from falling international oil prices.
The chemical materials, and the petroleum and coal products industries posted output declines of 9.06 percent and 28.17 percent for last month respectively.
The automobile and auto parts industry reported its largest decline in output since the financial crisis of 2009 with a 29.52 percent annual drop.
The textile industry reported a 35.38 percent year-on-year decline in output, also its largest decline since 2009.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last