The climate gauge for the nation’s manufacturing industry last month turned from “blue” to “yellow-blue,” aided by the peak sales season for technology products and inventory demand from China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為), the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday.
The manufacturing business index compiled by the Taipei-based think tank reached 11, up 1.03 points from July. It emerged from five straight months of being in a recessionary state, or “blue,” but is still registering a slowdown.
TIER reported signs of improvement in input materials, demand, costs and the overall operating condition, although selling prices continued to decline.
As the peak season is approaching, the growth momentum for export orders improved and manufacturers became more optimistic about their business prospects, the institute said.
Launches of new processors by Intel Corp, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc spurred upgrade demand, while the COVID-19 pandemic bolstered notebook computer sales, it said.
Huawei Technologies Co (華為) built up inventory ahead of the US government’s Sept. 15 deadline for shipping chips to the Chinese smartphone maker, which also benefited local firms in its supply chain, the institute found.
As a result, the business climate for related suppliers flashed “green,” indicating steady growth, it said.
The gauge for the petrochemical sector remained “blue,” as the pandemic caused a slump in demand for oil products and major manufacturers coped with a lack of business by conducting annual maintenance, the institute said.
Sectors selling machinery equipment and metal products fared better, registering “green,” thanks to a recovery in demand as countries opened up their economies, it said.
The signal for automakers and auto parts firms remained in contraction territory, as Ghost Month, the seventh month of the lunar year, weighed on buying interest, the institute said.
Makers of food products were helped by the government-issued Triple Stimulus Vouchers and improved from “blue” to “yellow-blue,” it said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure