Industrial production last month grew 7.34 percent year-on-year, snapping three consecutive months of decline, as strong demand for 5G-related applications and work-from-home and distance-learning trends boosted production of electronic components to a record high, the Ministry of Economic Affairs data showed yesterday.
That growth was supported by a 7.81 percent year-on-year increase in manufacturing production, the ministry said.
The COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated demand for work-from-home equipment such as servers, laptops and communication devices and the demand remains strong, it said.
“It has been a remarkable run for electronic components,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a news conference in Taipei.
Electronic components production increased 23.82 percent year-on-year, marking the seventh month in a row of double-digit percentage growth, according to ministry statistics.
Among the electronic components segment, IC products grew at the fastest-pace of 35.24 percent year-on-year, hitting a record high.
Flat panels and related components continue to benefit from work-from-home trends, with production growing 7.63 percent year-on-year, while electronic and optical products manufacturing expanded 19.4 percent year-on-year.
Automotive and auto parts production declined 19.45 percent annually, which the ministry attributed to collapsing oil prices that restrained consumer demand in the Middle East.
A global drop in demand for vehicles during the pandemic was also a factor, the ministry added.
Petrochemical products also suffered, posting a 22.9 percent year-on-year decline in production, and textiles remain hard-hit, falling 21.46 percent year-on-year, mostly due to decreased or lagging orders in the wake of the pandemic, the ministry said.
Overall, industrial production in the first half of the year expanded at an annual rate of 6.68 percent, while manufacturing expanded 7.17 percent annually, the ministry said.
However, there are signs that the worst is over for some traditional industries, the ministry said.
Machinery equipment production’s decline decelerated to an annual reduction of 5.2 percent, a marked improvement from a 15 percent year-on-year reduction in May.
The decline for chemical materials has also been arrested at 3.1 percent lower year-on-year, according to ministry data.
“We expect traditional industries to ‘warm back up’ as oil and steel prices rise,” Wang said.
The ministry’s survey showed that manufacturing production is to trend up further this month.
Taiwan’s wholesalers, retailers and restaurants are continuing their climb back to normality after being hit hard by COVID-19, the ministry said.
Wholesalers returned to positive territory last month, growing 0.1 percent year-on-year compared with minus-6.5 percent in May.
Retailers declined 1.3 percent, compared with minus-5.7 percent in May, and restaurants declined 7 percent, compared with minus-8.2 percent in May, the ministry said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
LIMITED IMPACT: Investor confidence was likely sustained by its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as only less advanced chips are made in Nanjing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) saw its stock price close steady yesterday in a sign that the loss of the validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing, China, fab should have a mild impact on the world’s biggest contract chipmaker financially and technologically. Media reports about the waiver loss sent TSMC down 1.29 percent during the early trading session yesterday, but the stock soon regained strength and ended at NT$1,160, unchanged from Tuesday. Investors’ confidence in TSMC was likely built on its relatively small exposure to the Chinese market, as Chinese customers contributed about 9 percent to TSMC’s revenue last
With this year’s Semicon Taiwan trade show set to kick off on Wednesday, market attention has turned to the mass production of advanced packaging technologies and capacity expansion in Taiwan and the US. With traditional scaling reaching physical limits, heterogeneous integration and packaging technologies have emerged as key solutions. Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips has put technologies such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS), integrated fan-out (InFO), system on integrated chips (SoIC), 3D IC and fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) at the center of semiconductor innovation, making them a major focus at this year’s trade show, according
DEBUT: The trade show is to feature 17 national pavilions, a new high for the event, including from Canada, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Sweden and Vietnam for the first time The Semicon Taiwan trade show, which opens on Wednesday, is expected to see a new high in the number of exhibitors and visitors from around the world, said its organizer, SEMI, which has described the annual event as the “Olympics of the semiconductor industry.” SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, and touts the annual exhibition as the most influential semiconductor trade show in the world, said more than 1,200 enterprises from 56 countries are to showcase their innovations across more than 4,100 booths, and that the event could attract 100,000 visitors. This year’s event features 17
RSS