Exports last month increased a modest 3.5 percent year-on-year to US$37.36 billion, as shipments of electronics used in artificial intelligence (AI) remained strong and some non-tech products came out of the woods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
The increase lagged behind the 7 to 10 percent range the ministry expected, as firms at home and abroad largely maintained a cautious business approach, but their inventory mostly returned to healthy levels and the global economy is improving, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
There is a lingering uneven recovery between product categories and export destinations — with exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products to the US driving most of the growth, helped by aggressive spending of US technology giants on AI infrastructure, she said.
Photo: CNA
The megatrend explained why ICT shipments such as AI servers and graphics cards surged 62.4 percent to US$9.42 billion, underpinning 25.2 percent of overall shipments, Tsai said.
Meanwhile, exports of electronics, mainly chips, shed 11 percent to US$13.4 billion, she said, adding that the retreat in electronics likely had to do with the reclassification of partial exports as imports to reflect changes in manufacturing locations.
It is better to combine electronics and ICT shipments to gain a better picture, as the two categories made up 64 percent of total exports and made a solid gain in the first five months of this year, she said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) robust revenue lent support to such an interpretation, Tsai said.
TSMC yesterday posted NT$229.62 billion (US$7.12 billion) of revenue for last month, a 30.2 percent spike from a year earlier.
Shipments of optical and precision products plunged 31.2 percent to US$892 million, while exports of transportation tools shrank 25 percent to US$880 million, the ministry’s report showed.
On the other hand, some non-tech products emerged from a slowdown, as customers started to rebuild inventory, Tsai said.
Exports of plastic grew 0.6 percent, while chemical and mineral products saw a growth 8.9 percent, the ministry said.
Shipments of textile products bounced 10.2 percent, given the demand for sportswear for the upcoming Olympic Games, she said.
Imports increased 0.6 percent to US$31.31 billion, giving Taiwan a trade surplus of US$6.05 billion, which is 21.6 percent higher than a year earlier, the ministry said.
Imports of agricultural and industrial raw materials picked up 5.8 percent, while imports of semiconductor equipment and luxury products declined 11.4 percent and 10.7 percent each, it said.
In the first five months, exports expanded 9.1 percent to US$185.14 billion and imports rose 3.2 percent to US$153.69 billion, it said.
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) received about NT$147 billion (US$4.71 billion) in subsidies from the US, Japanese, German and Chinese governments over the past two years for its global expansion. Financial data compiled by the world’s largest contract chipmaker showed the company secured NT$4.77 billion in subsidies from the governments in the third quarter, bringing the total for the first three quarters of the year to about NT$71.9 billion. Along with the NT$75.16 billion in financial aid TSMC received last year, the chipmaker obtained NT$147 billion in subsidies in almost two years, the data showed. The subsidies received by its subsidiaries —
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and the company’s former chairman, Mark Liu (劉德音), both received the Robert N. Noyce Award -- the semiconductor industry’s highest honor -- in San Jose, California, on Thursday (local time). Speaking at the award event, Liu, who retired last year, expressed gratitude to his wife, his dissertation advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, his supervisors at AT&T Bell Laboratories -- where he worked on optical fiber communication systems before joining TSMC, TSMC partners, and industry colleagues. Liu said that working alongside TSMC
RSS