Taiwan’s consumer confidence index (CCI) climbed to a four-month high of 64.69 last month, buoyed by stock market gains fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) demand, even as sentiment toward jobs, household finances and housing weakened, National Central University (NCU) said yesterday.
The headline index rose 1.38 points from August, driven almost entirely by a surge in the stock investment subindex, which jumped 20.48 points to 51.68 — the steepest monthly gain among the six CCI components. The other five subindexes all declined.
“The AI boom has sparked strong demand for Taiwan’s electronics and pushed the local bourse to record highs,” NCU Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development director Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) said.
Photo: CNA
Wu cited how shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest supplier of advanced chips, recently topped NT$1,300, helping propel the TAIEX to a record peak of 26,394 points.
However, overheating risks and external uncertainties remain, Wu said, citing a US proposal for a “50-50” split in Taiwan-US chipmaking capacity.
Such a move could be Taiwan’s biggest economic challenge over the next decade, potentially dampening private investment, overall economic momentum and local stock market performance, he said.
Eventually, “more tech firms could shift their manufacturing capacity to the US,” Wu said.
Wu also flagged a separate US trade investigation into semiconductors and information and communications technology (ICT) products, which could trigger higher tariffs or other headwinds.
The latest CCI survey showed a sharp deterioration in housing-related sentiment. The durable goods subindex fell 3.83 points to 90.7, while the real-estate subindex dropped 3.79 points to 88.94 — both at their lowest levels in more than five years
Broader expectations also softened, with the six-month economic outlook index down 2.99 points to 76.18, despite stronger-than-expected GDP growth this year, driven by AI-fueled exports, the survey showed.
Confidence in household finances fell 2.61 points to 72.54, while expectations for job opportunities dropped 2.05 points to 67.07, weighed down by unpaid leave programs at non-tech firms after Washington imposed a 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods in August.
Consumer price expectations showed the smallest decline, edging down 0.77 points to 29.95, reflecting a moderation in inflationary pressures, Wu said.
The CCI survey was conducted by telephone on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19, polling 3,125 adults aged 20 and older, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
DAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
About 1,000 participants, including more than 200 venture capitalists, joined the Taiwan Demo Day in Silicon Valley on Saturday, the largest iteration to date of the event held ahead of Nvidia Corp’s annual GPU Technology Conference which runs from today to Thursday. Taiwan Demo Day, co-organized by the Taiwan Next Foundation and the Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley Hub, took place at the Computer History Museum in California, showcasing 12 teams focused on physical artificial intelligence (AI) and agentic AI technologies. Katie Hsieh (謝凱婷), founder of the Taiwan Next Foundation, said the event highlighted the strength of the Taiwan-US start-up ecosystem, with
DOMESTIC COMPONENT: Huang identified several Taiwanese partners to be a key part of Nvidia’s Vera Rubin supply chain, including Asustek, Hon Hai and Wistron Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), addressing crowds at the company’s biggest annual event, unveiled a variety of new products while predicting that its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) processors would help generate US$1 trillion in sales through next year. During a two-and-a-half-hour keynote address, Huang announced plans to push deeper into central processing units (CPUs) — Intel Corp’s home turf — and introduced semiconductors made with technology acquired from start-up Groq Inc. The company even said it was developing chips for data centers in outer space. At the heart of Huang’s speech was the message that demand for computing power
RSS