Taiwan’s outbound direct investment reached a new high in the second quarter, as tech firms including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) were keen to send funds abroad to expand their operations, the central bank said last week.
Data compiled by the central bank showed that outbound direct investment during the April-to-June period totaled US$10.7 billion, up from US$2.99 billion in the same period last year.
Taiwan’s net fund outflow in the second quarter hit US$14.57 billion in its financial account, which measures the flow of direct investment and portfolio investment, the central bank said, adding that the second quarter marked the 56th consecutive quarter of net fund outflows.
Photo: Reuters
The direct investment account recorded a net asset increase of US$6.54 billion in the second quarter. Of the components in the direct investment account, outbound direct investment by residents and inward direct investment by nonresidents posted net increases of US$10.7 billion and US$4.16 billion respectively, it said.
Taiwan’s portfolio investment account in the second quarter saw a net asset increase of US$13.06 billion. Of the components in the portfolio investment account, residents’ portfolio investment abroad registered a net increase of US$16.05 billion in the wake of a rise in holdings of outbound debt securities, the central bank said.
In addition, nonresidents’ portfolio investment posted a net increase of US$2.99 billion, mainly due to a rise in Taiwanese equity holdings by foreign investors, it added.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s current account, which mainly measures the exports and imports of the nation’s merchandise and services, registered a surplus of US$21.82 billion in the three-month period.
The goods trade surplus fell by US$1.22 billion from a year earlier to US$20.82 billion, on the back of an increase in imports of integrated circuits, and information and communications technology products.
Meanwhile, the services account recorded a deficit of US$4.06 billion, up from a US$2.29 billion deficit a year ago, largely due to an increase in travel expenses overseas, the central bank said.
In the first half of this year, Taiwan’s financial account saw a US$43.59 billion net fund outflow, while its current account recorded a surplus of US$51.49 billion, the central bank said.
Over the past 56 quarters, accumulated net fund outflows hit almost NT$26.58 trillion (US$850 billion).
Addressing concerns that investors would keep moving funds out of the country and into US dollar-denominated assets, the central bank said net fund outflows were common among countries such as Taiwan, which have long-term current account surpluses.
Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Germany all have long-term current account surpluses and tend to record net financial account outflows, the central bank 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