More than 80 percent of chief executive officers in Taiwan said they had faith that the nation’s economy would perform well over the next three years, a survey conducted by accounting firm KPMG showed on Jan. 23.
The survey was conducted in August and September last year and included responses from 50 Taiwanese CEOs, who oversaw companies that generated more than US$500 million in revenue a year, KPMG said.
The 50 CEOs spanned 11 major industries including asset management, automobiles, banking, consumption/retail, energy, infrastructure, life science, manufacturing, technology, communications and telecommunications, it said.
Photo: Reuters
About 82 percent of Taiwan’s CEOs reported feeling confident about the economy’s prospects for the next three years, similar to last year’s sentiment, the survey showed.
Taiwan’s figure was higher than the 73 percent of CEOs in the Asia-Pacific region, but lower than the 85 percent of CEOs worldwide, KPMG said.
The survey found that 88 percent of Taiwan’s CEOs said they were confident about the industries they worked in, higher than the 78 percent of CEOs worldwide and 85 percent of CEOs in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, only 52 percent of Taiwan’s CEOs had confidence in the global economy, fewer than 74 percent of CEOs worldwide, and 56 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, it showed.
Taiwan’s CEOs perceived operational issues as the top risk to growth over the next three years (22 percent), KPMG said, referring to operational issues related to uncertainties in enterprises’ day-to-day operations such as inappropriate employee behavior, natural disasters, loopholes in work security and inside fraud.
About 14 percent of the CEOs in Taiwan listed regulatory concerns and emerging or disruptive technologies as the main risk to growth, ahead of cybersecurity (12 percent), and interest rates and supply chain issues (10 percent), KPMG said.
KPMG Taiwan Inc (安侯建業) chairman Jeff Chen (陳俊光) said the business sector has in the past year faced threats resulting from high inflation, aggressive interest rate hikes by major central banks, geopolitical conflicts, regulatory supervision in the environment, sustainability and governance as well as artificial intelligence (AI) development.
As a result, Taiwanese CEOs saw operational issues as the top risk to growth in the latest KPMG survey, up from seventh place the previous year.
Chen said trade tensions as a result of geopolitical uncertainty, a talent shortage and an increase in costs caused by net zero requirements have raised concerns about operational issues this year.
Meanwhile, it was the first time interest rate concerns were among the top 5 concerns of Taiwan’s CEOs, as the government, enterprises and individuals continued to feel the pinch from high inflation and high interest rates, KPMG said.
In Taiwan, 66 percent of CEOs thought rising interest rates and tightening monetary policy could threaten economic growth, compared with 77 percent of global CEOs and 68 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, it said.
In the survey, more than 50 percent of Taiwanese CEOs said they listed generative AI development as their top investment, compared with 70 percent of global CEOs and 67 percent in the Asia-Pacific region.
KPMG said Taiwan’s lower investment in generative AI was because many CEOs thought the technology was still in its infancy and they needed more time to consider before increasing investment.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in