Taiwan’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month shed 1.5 points to 52.2, staying in expansion mode for the third straight month, although uncertainty linked to the US presidential race caused a stir, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.
The PMI published yesterday by S&P Global also showed that Taiwan’s factory activity continued to expand last month, falling to 52.9 from 53.2 in June.
PMI data seek to measure the health of the manufacturing industry with values of 50 and higher suggesting expansion and points below the neutral threshold indicating contraction.
Photo: CNA.
“Things remain positive overall, but recent remarks by US presidential candidates revived concern over tariff hikes,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said.
Taiwanese firms turned from feeling upbeat to cautious after former US president and Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump said in an interview last month that Taiwan “took all of [the US’] chip business” and should pay the US for defense. Trump has also pledged to raise tariffs on imports to address what he calls unfair trade practices.
The subindex on new business orders weakened 5.3 points to 53.9, while the industrial production subindex lost 2.5 points to also reach 53.9, the Taipei-based think tank said, citing a monthly survey.
Tech firms generally saw their business pick up, but firms involved in the supply of transportation tools, basic raw materials and machinery equipment reported business decreases, the institute said.
Firms conservatively increased their payroll and sought mostly to meet demand by enhancing their operating efficiency, it said, explaining why the measure on employment added a tiny 0.7 points to 51.9.
The subindex on inventory lost 0.4 points to 49, while clients’ inventory gained 1.5 points to 44.6, consistent with a cautious approach, the survey showed.
The gauge on raw material prices dropped 3.2 points to 57.3, remaining elevated and a concern for margin pressure, the institute said.
The six-month outlook declined 4.2 points to 55, as the US presidential election affected corporate confidence while the high sales season draws near, it said.
The business reading on non-manufacturing sectors fell 1.3 points to 57.3, expanding for 21 consecutive months, with all service-oriented sectors faring well, the institute said in a separate survey.
Private consumption held strong even though the TAIEX pulled back and the central bank tightened credit controls, Lien said.
EXPANSION: The investment came as ASE in July told investors it would accelerate capacity growth to mitigate supply issues, and would boost spending by 16 percent ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it is investing NT$17.6 billion (US$578.6 million) to build a new advanced chip packaging facility in Kaohsiung to cope with fast-growing demand from artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and automotive applications. The new fab, called K18B, is to commence operation in the first quarter of 2028, offering chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) chip packaging and final testing services, ASE said in a statement. The fab is to create 2,000 new jobs upon its completion, ASE said. A wide spectrum of system-level chip packaging technologies would be available at
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
HEAVYWEIGHT: The TAIEX ended up 382.67 points, with about 280 of those points contributed by TSMC shares alone, which rose 2.56 percent to close at NT$1,400 Shares in Taiwan broke records at the end of yesterday’s session after contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a fresh closing-high amid enthusiasm toward artificial intelligence (AI) development, dealers said. The TAIEX ended up 382.67 points, or 1.45 percent, at the day’s high of 26,761.06. Turnover totaled NT$463.09 billion (US$15.22 billion). “The local main board has repeatedly hit new closing highs in the past few sessions as investors continued to embrace high hopes about AI applications, taking cues from a strong showing in shares of US-based AI chip designer Nvidia Corp,” Hua Nan Securities Co (華南永昌證券) analyst Kevin Su
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
RSS