The production value of the automobile and parts industry in the second quarter fell 8.32 percent year-on-year to NT$112 billion (US$3.7 billion) as the Taiwan-US trade talks over the tariffs issue heavily weighed on the local car market, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a report on Tuesday.
“The auto market is cautious, and consumers are taking a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the outcome of trade negotiations, causing demand to slow down, while some automakers have suspended or reduced production due to equipment upgrades, resulting in a significant decrease in the output value of fuel-powered cars and trucks,” the report said.
“In addition, the order momentum for automotive electrical appliances, automotive lighting units and other parts has weakened,” it said.
Photo: CNA
Two other traditional industries also posted output decreases in the April-to-June quarter, with the chemical materials and fertilizers industry declining 20.26 percent to NT$339.9 billion and the base metals industry down 12.99 percent to NT$355 billion, the report said.
The traditional industries were affected by factors such as the uncertainty of the international economic and trade situation, while some manufacturers reducing production for equipment maintenance also played a role, the ministry said.
In contrast, the electronic components industry posted an annual increase of 25.62 percent in production value to NT$1.91 trillion, led by a 29.24 percent rise in semiconductor output, on strong demand of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications, the report said.
The computer and optical products industry also registered 72.95 percent growth in production value to NT$707.8 billion due to robust demand for AI and cloud-based data services, it said.
Meanwhile, the machinery equipment industry posted an output increase of 3.86 percent to NT$237.9 billion, as the semiconductor industry’s active expansion of advanced process production drove demand for semiconductor equipment, machinery components and automated warehousing equipment, it said.
Overall, Taiwan’s manufacturing output in the second quarter rose 11.14 percent year-on-year to NT$5.35 trillion, the sixth consecutive quarter of annual growth, the ministry said.
The outlook for the manufacturing sector remains positive, the ministry said, citing strong demand for emerging technologies such as AI, HPC and cloud-based data services; Taiwan’s leading edge in advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes and its comprehensive supply chain for high-end servers; and the anticipated launches of new consumer electronics in the second half of the year.
However, negative factors such as international trade measures and geopolitical conflicts are expected to disrupt the pace of global economic growth and pose uncertainties for Taiwan’s export-reliant manufacturing sector, it said.
With this year’s Semicon Taiwan trade show set to kick off on Wednesday, market attention has turned to the mass production of advanced packaging technologies and capacity expansion in Taiwan and the US. With traditional scaling reaching physical limits, heterogeneous integration and packaging technologies have emerged as key solutions. Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips has put technologies such as chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS), integrated fan-out (InFO), system on integrated chips (SoIC), 3D IC and fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) at the center of semiconductor innovation, making them a major focus at this year’s trade show, according
DEBUT: The trade show is to feature 17 national pavilions, a new high for the event, including from Canada, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Sweden and Vietnam for the first time The Semicon Taiwan trade show, which opens on Wednesday, is expected to see a new high in the number of exhibitors and visitors from around the world, said its organizer, SEMI, which has described the annual event as the “Olympics of the semiconductor industry.” SEMI, which represents companies in the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, and touts the annual exhibition as the most influential semiconductor trade show in the world, said more than 1,200 enterprises from 56 countries are to showcase their innovations across more than 4,100 booths, and that the event could attract 100,000 visitors. This year’s event features 17
SEMICONDUCTOR SERVICES: A company executive said that Taiwanese firms must think about how to participate in global supply chains and lift their competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it expects to launch its first multifunctional service center in Pingtung County in the middle of 2027, in a bid to foster a resilient high-tech facility construction ecosystem. TSMC broached the idea of creating a center two or three years ago when it started building new manufacturing capacity in the US and Japan, the company said. The center, dubbed an “ecosystem park,” would assist local manufacturing facility construction partners to upgrade their capabilities and secure more deals from other global chipmakers such as Intel Corp, Micron Technology Inc and Infineon Technologies AG, TSMC said. It
EXPORT GROWTH: The AI boom has shortened chip cycles to just one year, putting pressure on chipmakers to accelerate development and expand packaging capacity Developing a localized supply chain for advanced packaging equipment is critical for keeping pace with customers’ increasingly shrinking time-to-market cycles for new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said yesterday. Spurred on by the AI revolution, customers are accelerating product upgrades to nearly every year, compared with the two to three-year development cadence in the past, TSMC vice president of advanced packaging technology and service Jun He (何軍) said at a 3D IC Global Summit organized by SEMI in Taipei. These shortened cycles put heavy pressure on chipmakers, as the entire process — from chip design to mass
RSS