It is “still too soon to tell” whether power shortages in China would lead to a wave of reshoring by Taiwanese manufacturers, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said yesterday.
Wang’s remarks came in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬), who during a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee inquired whether any Taiwanese firms have yet made the announcement to “come home” amid power rationing in China.
“All this just happened and manufacturers are dealing with it by switching production to existing manufacturing facilities outside of China,” Wang said. “However, most firms have a wait-and-see attitude toward long-term investment decisions.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Taiwanese manufacturers that have retained domestic production facilities are better able to weather the unexpected shortages, while firms that exclusively produce in China would inevitably be affected, she said.
“It is inevitable that firms that only manufacture in China will take longer to deliver their orders, leading ultimately to lower volumes,” she added.
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) asked whether Taiwan has enough electricity generation capacity to supply industrial users, especially if more manufacturers return.
Wang said that Taiwan has mainly secured its energy needs through long-term contracts and is therefore less exposed to an ongoing global energy crunch.
About 70 percent of Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas and 75 percent of its coal come from long-term supply agreements, she said.
“We are prepared,” Wang said, adding that Taiwan has a 30-day supply of coal, as opposed to about 10 days in India or China.
Separately, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中) said that Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has been “well-received” by Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
“You can describe the responses to Taiwan’s application as encouraging,” Deng told political commentator Frances Huang (黃光芹) in an interview.
After China’s surprise bid to join the regional trade pact on Sept. 16, Taiwan swiftly followed suit and sent its membership application a week later, worried that China’s membership might derail its long-planned attempt to join the bloc.
“A lot of countries were taken by surprise by China’s bid,” Deng said. “As long as more than half of China’s GDP is generated by state-owned enterprises, it will be hard for the country to meet the CPTPP’s tough requirements.”
Describing China’s bid as a “sneak attack,” Deng said that Taiwan, which “pre-paved” its bid, is more “welcomed internationally.”
“No one is throwing cold water on our bid,” he said, describing Taiwan’s chances as “good.”
In Italy’s storied gold-making hubs, jewelers are reworking their designs to trim gold content as they race to blunt the effect of record prices and appeal to shoppers watching their budgets. Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, surging near US$5,600 an ounce, more than double a year ago as geopolitical concerns and jitters over trade pushed investors toward the safe-haven asset. The rally is putting undue pressure on small artisans as they face mounting demands from customers, including international brands, to produce cheaper items, from signature pieces to wedding rings, according to interviews with four independent jewelers in Italy’s main
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has talked up the benefits of a weaker yen in a campaign speech, adopting a tone at odds with her finance ministry, which has refused to rule out any options to counter excessive foreign exchange volatility. Takaichi later softened her stance, saying she did not have a preference for the yen’s direction. “People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it’s a major opportunity,” Takaichi said on Saturday at a rally for Liberal Democratic Party candidate Daishiro Yamagiwa in Kanagawa Prefecture ahead of a snap election on Sunday. “Whether it’s selling food or
CONCERNS: Tech companies investing in AI businesses that purchase their products have raised questions among investors that they are artificially propping up demand Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday said that the company would be participating in OpenAI’s latest funding round, describing it as potentially “the largest investment we’ve ever made.” “We will invest a great deal of money,” Huang told reporters while visiting Taipei. “I believe in OpenAI. The work that they do is incredible. They’re one of the most consequential companies of our time.” Huang did not say exactly how much Nvidia might contribute, but described the investment as “huge.” “Let Sam announce how much he’s going to raise — it’s for him to decide,” Huang said, referring to OpenAI
The global server market is expected to grow 12.8 percent annually this year, with artificial intelligence (AI) servers projected to account for 16.5 percent, driven by continued investment in AI infrastructure by major cloud service providers (CSPs), market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. Global AI server shipments this year are expected to increase 28 percent year-on-year to more than 2.7 million units, driven by sustained demand from CSPs and government sovereign cloud projects, TrendForce analyst Frank Kung (龔明德) told the Taipei Times. Demand for GPU-based AI servers, including Nvidia Corp’s GB and Vera Rubin rack systems, is expected to remain high,
RSS