Taiwan’s business climate monitor stayed “green” for the fourth consecutive month last month, signaling steady economic momentum, despite widening disparities across industries, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.
The composite index gained one point from July to 30, as stronger production and exports offset weakness in traditional sectors, which came under pressure from US tariffs and intensifying global competition, the council said.
The NDC uses a five-color system to illustrate economic conditions: “green” indicates stable growth, “red” reflects a boom and “blue” signals recession, while dual colors denote transition.
Photo: CNA
Of the nine components, stock prices and M1B money supply each added one point, buoyed by a market rebound, while the manufacturing sales index slipped by one point, as tariff impacts started to emerge, NDC Department of Economic Development Director Chen Mei-chu (陳美菊) said.
“The trend is expected to be sustainable, keeping the business climate measure in the ‘green’ range for the rest of the year,” Chen said.
The leading index, which projects economic conditions over the next six months, fell for a seventh straight month to 99.59, down 0.24 percent from July, the council said.
Weaker momentum in new construction, manufacturing business sentiment, export orders and net hiring weighed on the gauge, although money supply, stock prices and imports of semiconductor equipment improved, the NDC said.
The coincident index, which reflects the current state of the economy, edged up 0.26 percent to 106.52, advancing for the 27th straight month, supported by exports, electricity consumption and overtime hours, the council said.
However, retail, wholesale and restaurant revenues, industrial production, machinery imports and manufacturing sales all declined, it said.
Financial conditions brightened after US President Donald Trump pledged to exempt semiconductor firms with US investments from tariffs and the US Federal Reserve signaled willingness to cut interest rates to support the labor market, Chen said.
Trade and sales-related indicators showed resilience, but private consumption remained subdued in light of lackluster retail and restaurant turnover, she added.
A divergence is increasingly emerging between high-tech and traditional industries, she said.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-fueled demand is propelling semiconductor and the information and communications technology industries, but traditional sectors are grappling with tariff headwinds, slower production and mounting furlough cases, Chen said.
Although the latest manufacturing index edged up, firms remain uneasy about US tariffs, she said.
Chen said that Taiwan’s economy should stay resilient through the end of the year, supported by robust AI demand and strong capacity utilization at major technology firms, but geopolitical tensions and trade risks warrant close monitoring.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
It is challenging to build infrastructure in much of Europe. Constrained budgets and polarized politics tend to undermine long-term projects, forcing officials to react to emergencies rather than plan for the future. Not in Austria. Today, the country is to officially open its Koralmbahn tunnel, the 5.9 billion euro (US$6.9 billion) centerpiece of a groundbreaking new railway that will eventually run from Poland’s Baltic coast to the Adriatic Sea, transforming travel within Austria and positioning the Alpine nation at the forefront of logistics in Europe. “It is Austria’s biggest socio-economic experiment in over a century,” said Eric Kirschner, an economist at Graz-based Joanneum
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS