The Taiwan Research Institute (TRI, 台灣綜合研究院) and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) yesterday updated their forecasts for the nation’s GDP growth next year to 3.18 percent and 2.8 percent respectively, as both are looking at an economic recovery, but differed about the pace.
However, the TRI cut its forecast for GDP growth for this year from 1.45 percent to 1.41 percent, as exports and private investment turned out softer than expected, despite private consumption single-handedly upholding the economy with an 8.31 percent increase, TRI president Wu Tsai-yi (吳再益) told an economic forum in Taipei.
Private consumption would normalize next year with a 2.3 percent pickup as the benefits of pent-up demand taper off, but external demand would improve, even though uncertainty linked to geopolitical tensions would continue to weigh, the TRI said, expecting exports to expand 6.08 percent and imports to increase by 7.24 percent.
Photo: Lam Yik Fei, Bloomberg
Private investment would grow 2.14 percent next year, from shrinking 9.96 percent this year, as firms regain investment interest, Wu said.
To rekindle the economy, the government should use the nation’s excess savings to invest in public infrastructure and private investment projects, TRI founder Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) said.
Cathay Financial expects the economy to regain momentum next year by expanding 2.8 percent year-on-year, compared with the 2.9 percent growth it forecast three months earlier, on concerns GDP growth in the US and China would slow.
National Central University economics professor Hsu Chih-chiang (徐之強), who released the forecast on behalf of Cathay Financial, said a slowdown in China and the US would limit the pace of recovery in Taiwan.
The central bank is today expected to keep interest rates unchanged for the third straight quarter, as consumer prices have a fair chance of returning to the 2 percent target next year and would stay there throughout next year, Hsu said.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
POWER BUILDUP: Powered by Nvidia’s B200 Blackwell chips, the data center would support MediaTek’s computing power demand and business growth, the company said Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) data center with a maximum capacity of 45 megawatts to meet its rising demand for computing power required to develop new advanced chips for AI applications. The company has completed the first-phase computing power buildup at the data center in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), providing 15 megawatts of capacity to support its research and development (R&D) capabilities, despite an industrywide shortage of key components, MediaTek said. Supply constraints have plagued a wide range of key components, including memory chips, solid-state drives, power supply units and central
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
RSS