Profits at China’s industrial firms rebounded last month, driven by a boost in income from the high-technology manufacturing sector and signaling economic resilience amid trade tensions with the US.
Industrial profits rose by 2.6 percent from a year earlier, taking the gain for the first quarter to 0.8 percent, data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday. Last month’s data compares with a 0.3 percent contraction for the first two months.
A turnaround in industrial profit is regarded as critical in lifting business confidence, and encouraging companies to invest and hire to help the Chinese government achieve its reiterated commitment to achieve about 5 percent economic growth this year.
Photo: EPA-EFE
High-technology focused manufacturers’ profit rose 3.5 percent in the quarter, reversing a 5.8 percent decline in the first two months of the year. Almost three-fifths of industrial sectors recorded profit growth last month, the statement said.
China on Friday said it would “fully prepare” emergency plans to protect the nation against increasing external shocks, as it defends its growth goals amid a deepening trade war with the US that is challenging the world’s No. 2 economy.
The country’s decisionmaking politburo pledged to create new monetary and policy tools to boost technology, consumption and trade. Such steps could allow for faster deployment of low-cost credit for investment in targeted areas.
“Incremental and existing policies have worked in concert, enabling the industrial economy to get off to a good start,” bureau analyst Yu Weining (于衛寧) said in a statement. “At this stage, the external environment has become more complex and severe, with an increase in unstable and uncertain factors.”
Separately, China yesterday said that it would lower the tax rebate threshold for foreigners visiting the country, an effort to boost consumption, as Beijing attempts to offset some of the damage of the trade war.
Tourists who spend at least 200 yuan (US$27.4) on the same day at the same store would be eligible for the rebate, according to a joint statement from the Chinese Ministry of Finance, the People’s Bank of China and other government departments.
The maximum rebate amount for cash claims would be increased to 20,000 yuan, it added.
The government would also expand the list of eligible tax-refund stores and streamline procedures to make it easier for tourists to claim the rebate, the joint statement said.
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS