The total output of the nation’s computer manufacturing sector last year reached NT$321.5 billion (US$10.54 billion), its highest level since 2003, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
The ministry attributed last year’s strong performance to easing component shortages, as well as emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence and cloud computing driving up demand in industrial supply chains.
Servers, which last year accounted for 60.3 percent of the computer manufacturing sector, performed the best with an output of NT$194 billion.
Photo: CNA
That was a 59.9 percent year-on-year increase in output, and came on the back of growing orders received by Taiwanese manufacturers for cloud computing services in the US, the ministry said.
Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) said that demand for remote processing came primarily from US companies, such as Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google.
However, due to an ongoing US-China trade dispute and information security considerations, many of orders have gradually shifted away from China, driving a substantial increase in demand for servers made by Taiwan-based manufacturers, Huang said.
Meanwhile, laptop computers accounted for 22.5 of the sector last year, with an output of NT$72.4 billion, up 25.8 percent year-on-year.
This was followed by industrial computers at NT$50.1 billion, with an annual increase of 45.3 percent and comprising 15.6 percent of the overall sector.
The ministry attributed the sharp year-on-year growth for industrial computers to robust demand for industrial IoT devices and medical applications, as well as retailers undertaking digital transformations.
In the first three months of the year, the US was Taiwan’s largest computer export market at 65.6 percent, followed by China (including Hong Kong) at 5.8 percent and the Netherlands at 5.4 percent.
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