Taiwan’s economy performed well in the first half of this year thanks to an increase in global demand for technology goods and services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but technology tensions between the US and China could hurt Taiwan by disrupting the existing supply chain, DBS Bank Ltd said in a report yesterday.
Demand for technology products could be divided into demand for computers and consumer electronics, mobile phones, digitalization, and automation, DBS economist Ma Tieying (馬鐵英) said in the report.
While the purchases of computers and consumer electronics during were likely one-off, demand for digitalization and automation, such as video streaming, e-commerce, online entertainment, as well as the use of robots and drones for the delivery of medical supplies and disinfection, would continue rising after the pandemic, creating sustained opportunities for the electronic components segment, Ma said.
However, in the short term, US-China tensions could negatively affect Taiwan by disrupting the supply chain, she said.
While Taiwanese semiconductor companies rely on the US for upstream integrated chip design, and supplies of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and chemical materials, they also rely heavily on the Chinese market, so they would be susceptible to Beijing’s restrictive measures on market access or the US’ reduction of advanced technology supply, she added.
In the long term, the imperative of the US and China to build their own semiconductor supply chains might add pressure on Taiwan, as both nations have been urging Taiwanese semiconductor firms to move more advanced operations to their country, Ma said.
“While the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capacity remains in Taiwan, whether the nation’s comparative advantage will weaken as the US and China catch up will be a question for the coming decade,” she said.
Separately yesterday, Citibank Taiwan Ltd (台灣花旗) senior vice president Calvin Tseng (曾慶瑞) told a news conference that global financial markets might witness increased volatility in the third quarter of this year as selling pressure tends to rise.
That is because many investors will likely sell shares after many stock indices hit record highs, despite real economies not fully recovering from the effects of the pandemic, Tseng said.
“We expect real economies to take at least two years to recover from the outbreak, ” he said.
With the US dollar likely to remain weak against other major currencies amid a low-interest environment, Taiwanese investors are advised to exchange some of their US dollars into the euros, British pounds or yen, Tseng said.
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
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS