The proportion of Taiwan’s exports directed to China, including Hong Kong, declined by more than 12 percentage points last year compared with its peak in 2020, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday last week.
The decrease reflects the ongoing restructuring of global supply chains, driven by escalating trade tensions between Beijing and Washington.
Data compiled by the ministry showed China and Hong Kong accounted for 31.7 percent of Taiwan’s total outbound sales last year, a drop of 12.2 percentage points from a high of 43.9 percent in 2020.
Photo: CNA
In addition to increasing trade conflicts between China and the US, the ministry said the decline reflected a weakening Chinese economy caused by a fragile property home market and falling domestic demand.
The ministry said a fall in exports to China also came as the Chinese government intensified efforts to push for the “Made in China 2025” initiative to replace imported goods with those made domestically.
The reduction in exports last year was largely made up of petrochemical, base metal and machine tool suppliers due to a supply glut in the Chinese market, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s exports of traditional electronic components to China, such as printed-circuit boards and diodes, also declined last year compared with 2020, it said.
In contrast, sales of high-end integrated circuits and graphics processing unit (GPU) cards, which are used in artificial intelligence applications, increased over the same period.
As exports to China fall, Taiwan has forged closer ties with the US and ASEAN to diversify their markets and reduce dependence on China, the ministry said.
Taiwan’s exports to the US surged 120 percent last year compared with 2020, reaching US$111.4 billion, the ministry said.
The growth was primarily driven by computer electronics — including servers and GPU cards — which rose 640 percent, and semiconductors, which increased 360 percent in that period.
Exports to the US comprised 23.4 percent of Taiwan’s total last year, up from 14.6 percent in 2020, according to the ministry.
Exports to ASEAN made up 18.5 percent, up 3.1 percentage points from 15.4 percent in 2020, largely due to an increase in sales of computers and related products, as well as semiconductors, the ministry 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) 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
TECHNOLOGY DAY: The Taiwanese firm is also setting up a joint venture with Alphabet Inc on robots and plans to establish a firm in Japan to produce Model A EVs Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday announced a collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to build next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and strengthen its local supply chain in the US to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI systems. Building such an infrastructure in the US is crucial for strengthening local supply chains and supporting the US in maintaining its leading position in the AI domain, Hon Hai said in a statement. Through the collaboration, OpenAI would share its insights into emerging hardware needs in the AI industry with Hon Hai to support the company’s design and development work, as well
RSS