Taiwan remained the fifth-largest net creditor in the world at the end of last year, as the nation’s net international investment position (NIIP) rose 0.9 percent to a new record at US$1.41 trillion, albeit slower than a 10.5 percent growth in 2020, the central bank said yesterday.
NIIP is the difference between a country’s external financial assets and its external financial liabilities.
Japan was the world’s largest net creditor with an NIIP of US$3.6 trillion, followed by Germany with US$2.7 trillion, Hong Kong with US$2.1 trillion and China with US$1.9 trillion, the central bank told a virtual news conference.
Photo: Allen Wu, Taipei Times
While Hong Kong’s NIIP stayed flat from a year earlier, Japan, Germany and China all saw their NIIPs decline last year, it said.
Taiwan’s external assets last year grew 7.9 percent year-on-year to US$2.71 trillion, as local life insurers purchased more overseas bonds and their holdings of foreign equities posted higher valuations, the central bank said.
As a result, the nation’s investment in overseas securities expanded 11.3 percent annually to US$1.2 trillion at the end of last year, it said.
Taiwan’s direct investment in overseas markets gained 10.9 percent from a year earlier to US$444.5 billion, while external assets held by the central bank edged up 3.5 percent to US$553.9 billion, it added.
The nation’s external liability last year grew 16.7 percent to US$1.3 trillion, mainly because of a 14 percent increase in direct investment by foreigners and a 23 percent increase in securities investment by foreign investors, the central bank said.
As the TAIEX last year advanced 23.7 percent — outstripping the global average of 17 percent — rising local stock prices pushed up the valuation of shares held by foreign institutional investors, which in turn boosted the nation’s external liability, the central bank said.
Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) latest smartphones carry a version of the advanced made-in-China processor it revealed last year, results from an independent analysis showed. This underscored the Chinese company’s ability to sustain production of the controversial chip. The Pura 70 series unveiled last week sports the Kirin 9010 processor, research firm TechInsights found during a teardown of the device. This is a newer version of the Kirin 9000s, made by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) for the Mate 60 Pro, which had alarmed officials in Washington who thought a 7-nanometer chip was beyond China’s capabilities. Huawei has enjoyed a resurgence since
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
GROWTH DRIVERS: The firm expects to benefit from generative AI applications for smartphones, higher average selling price of flagship chips and market share gains Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday said it estimates that revenue would expand at an annual rate of about 15 percent this year, as a proliferation of generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications for premium smartphones are fueling demand for its flagship smartphone chips. It expects its smartphone chip revenue to outgrow the company’s average growth rate this year, benefiting primarily from the higher average selling price of its flagship smartphone chips and market share gains. The flagship chip revenue is to soar 50 percent year-on-year this year, MediaTek told an investor conference yesterday. As a whole, this year’s gross margin is