The nation’s machinery exports to the US amounted to US$7.19 billion last year, surpassing the US$6.86 billion to China to become the largest export destination for the local machinery industry, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI, 台灣機械公會) said in a report on Jan. 10.
It came as some manufacturers brought forward or “front-loaded” US-bound shipments as required by customers ahead of potential tariffs imposed by the new US administration, the association said.
During his campaign, US president-elect Donald Trump threatened tariffs of as high as 60 percent on Chinese goods and 10 percent to 20 percent on imports from other countries. Against this backdrop, many local manufacturers received rush orders in recent months, but the association said it remains to be seen if the order momentum would continue after Trump takes office.
Photo: CNA
China’s decision to end tariff reductions on Taiwanese machinery under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) early harvest list in June last year also contributed to the lower exports to the country, the association said.
Taiwan’s machinery exports comprise mainly inspection and testing equipment, electronic equipment, and machine tools, the association said.
The US and China remained the two largest buyers of Taiwanese machinery products last year, accounting for 24.6 percent and 23.4 percent share of the nation’s total exports respectively, followed by Japan, with purchases totaling US$2.15 billion, or 7.3 percent, it said.
For the whole of last year, machinery exports totaled US$29.28 billion, down 0.6 percent from US$29.44 billion a year earlier, the association’s data showed.
Exports of electronic equipment increased 4 percent year-on-year to US$4.95 billion, and those of inspection and testing equipment rose 3.6 percent to US$4.377 billion, while outbound shipments of machine tools fell 14.8 percent to US$2.22 billion last year, data found.
The association attributed the decline in machine tool exports to geopolitical conflicts, as local manufacturers actively complied with government regulations and conducted customer verifications to avoid their goods becoming production tools for weapons amid the Russia-Ukraine war, which greatly affected their export orders.
Coupled with the sharp depreciation of the yen and the dumping of low-priced goods from China in overseas markets, Taiwan’s machine tool exports continued to drop last year after an annual decrease of 14 percent in 2023, the most affected among Taiwanese machinery, the association said.
However, there is no need to be pessimistic as local machinery manufacturers would see a gradual recovery in orders this year thanks to the growing economies of India, Mexico and Southeast Asia, it said.
Taiwanese exporters must make early preparations for Trump’s trade policies, as high US tariffs and the priority of US manufacturing would be challenges for Taiwan’s exports, the association said.
Even though machinery products might not be directly affected, indirect impacts are inevitable, it added.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS