The nation’s machinery exports last month expanded 3.7 percent year-on-year to US$2.73 billion, benefiting from robust front-loading demand from US customers amid tariff concerns, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (台灣機械工業同業公會) said yesterday.
That marked the fifth consecutive month of annual growth, as customers requested their products be shipped before yesterday’s expiration of a 90-day reprieve from the US’ tariffs, the association said in a report.
However, drastic appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar tarnished the performance. Machinery exports dipped 4.2 percent annually to about NT$81.53 billion (US$2.8 billion) last month from a year ago, snapping the gains seen in the previous four months, the association’s data showed.
Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Local machinery exporters are losing orders to Asian competitors, while profitability is being squeezed by the local currency’s rise, the association said.
The NT dollar rose 12.4 percent against the US dollar from April 1 to Tuesday, surpassing a 6.7 percent increase for the won, 2.1 percent for the yen and 1.3 percent for the yuan, it said.
A higher US “reciprocal” tariff on Taiwanese goods would deal another blow to local machinery makers, the association said.
The White House on Monday announced 25 percent import duties on Japan and South Korea. In early April, the US set a 32 percent tariff on Taiwan.
During the first six months of this year, machinery exports expanded 5.3 percent annually to US$14.92 billion, the data showed.
The US was the top export destination for local machinery suppliers, with shipments totaling US$3.97 billion in the first half of this year, up 16.3 percent annually.
China followed, with exports inching up 1.1 percent to US$2.41 billion, while Japan was third, with exports of US$1.2 billion, rising 14.1 percent annually, data showed.
Metrology equipment was the largest export item, making up 17.6 percent with US$2.62 billion of exports during the six-month period. Electronic equipment made up 16 percent of the total, with exports of US$2.38 billion, while machinery tools made up 6.8 percent, with exports of US$1.01 billion, data showed.
Taiwan imported about US$32.39 billion of machinery during the January-to-June period, surging 53.5 percent from the same period last year, the association said.
Electronic equipment was the biggest item purchased by local firms, soaring 85.9 percent from last year with US$14.19 billion in spending. That made up 43.8 percent of total imports.
Metrology equipment followed with imports of US$7.9 billion, accounting for 24.4 percent, and spiking 80.6 percent annually. Turbines were a distant third with imports plummeting 28.6 percent year-on-year to US$1.29 billion, making up 4 percent of the total, data showed.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS