Industrial electricity consumption declined 4.48 percent year-on-year last month, ending a 10-month streak of growth as the Lunar New Year holiday reduced the number of working days, the Taiwan Research Institute (台灣綜合研究院) said in a report yesterday.
However, the semiconductor sector bucked the trend, using 1.8 percent more power to meet strong demand for new technologies, such as high-performance computing, cloud computing, generative artificial intelligence (AI) and smart devices, the report said.
Tech companies also ramped up production ahead of potential US tariff hikes, it added.
Photo: CNA
The electricity prosperity index (EPI), which the institute uses to gauge the health of industrial sectors, signaled “yellow-red” for the ninth consecutive month, consistent with ongoing economic expansion, it said.
Non-tech sectors were less fortunate as they remained weighed by unfavorable global economic trends, rising costs and sharpening competition from lower-cost manufacturers in China, Vietnam and Thailand, the report said.
Taiwan’s strict environmental policies have increased production costs, while global shifts toward green chemicals are adding pressure to chemical product makers, it said.
Additionally, China, once a major importer of Taiwan’s chemicals, has expanded its domestic production, reducing reliance on Taiwan, it added.
The report also shed light on different power use declines among local sectors last month, with the high-voltage industrial sector falling 3.79 percent, the manufacturing sector dropping 4.16 percent and the service sector down 1.89 percent.
Looking ahead, the AI boom would continue to fuel growth for the semiconductor sector, helping to offset some of the downturn in non-tech industries and support Taiwan’s overall economy, the institute said.
Taiwan must closely monitor global economic uncertainties such as US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats to mitigate downside risks to local industries, it said.
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied
RSS