Exports last month spiked 31.5 percent from a year earlier to a record US$41.31 billion, fueled by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), frontloading activity and a low base linked to the Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Exports, a key growth driver in Taiwan, had expanded for 16 months, but might temporarily slip into contraction this month because of a high base and global unease over US trade policy, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) said.
“Exports [last month] proved way better than we expected and ran counter to the traditional slow seasonality for the current quarter,” Tsai told an online media briefing.
Photo: CNA
All product categories registered positive growth with information communications technology products soaring 65.5 percent year-on-year to a new peak of US$14.07 billion, the ministry’s report showed.
Active investment by US technology giants to build AI capability accounted for the upward trend and allowed the US to overtake China as Taiwan’s largest export destination, Tsai said.
Shipments to the US swelled 65.6 percent to US$11.77 billion, underpinning 28.5 percent of overall exports, and surpassing the US$11.72 billion destined for China and Hong Kong combined at 28.4 percent, she said.
The US might have long grown into the largest export market if including shipments bound for Mexico, Tsai said, adding that Taiwanese suppliers of electronics and car parts have expanded their presence in Mexico in recent years to take advantage of its favorable tax terms with the US.
That helped explain why exports to Mexico exploded 130 percent to US$939 million, Tsai said.
Meanwhile, South Korea replaced Japan to become Taiwan’s fourth-largest trade partner in terms of imports, as local tech firms rely on its high-bandwidth memory used in AI, Tsai said.
Fast-expanding AI applications are reshaping the world’s technology map and product cycle, she said.
Imports delivered a faster 47.8 percent hike to US$34.76 billion, giving Taiwan a trade surplus of US$6.55 billion, marking a 17.1 percent retreat from a year earlier, the ministry said.
The data came after local tech firms aggressively bought capital equipment, particularly semiconductor equipment, which expanded 140.2 percent and 234.4 percent respectively from the year before, it said.
Taiwan is responsible for manufacturing more than 95 percent of the world’s advanced chips used in AI and high-performance computing, and major local players said they need to expand capacity to meet business needs.
In the first two months of this year, exports increased 16.8 percent to US$11.52 billion and imports rose 9.3 percent to US$63.49 billion, poised for a record showing and above the forecast the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics set for this quarter, Tsai said.
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