Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday.
Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before.
Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth of 50 percent to 56 percent for this month, reflecting a low base due to the timing of the Lunar New Year.
Photo: EPA
“The AI opportunity shows no sign of fading and instead appears to be gaining momentum,” Tsai told an online news conference. “Industry players are overwhelmingly bullish on the outlook, and Taiwan has the technological capabilities and industrial depth to capture a significant share of the growth.”
Technology products were the main driver of last month’s outperformance. Exports of information and communications technology and audiovisual products more than doubled from a year earlier, while shipments of electronic components rose 24.1 percent.
Together, the two categories accounted for over two-thirds of the month’s export growth, underscoring Taiwan’s pivotal role in supplying chips, servers and related hardware to global datacenter operators.
Machinery exports increased 11 percent, buoyed by demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment, while plastics and rubber products fell 13.1 percent amid weak market conditions and rising overseas capacity, Tsai said, adding that uneven sectoral growth is likely to persist this year.
During the fourth quarter, exports jumped 49.4 percent year-on-year, beating the government’s forecast by 17.8 percentage points and reinforcing the case for an upward revision to full-year GDP growth from the 7.37 percent projected in November last year, Tsai said.
For all of last year, exports soared 34.9 percent to a record US$640.75 billion, generating an unprecedented trade surplus of US$157.14 billion. The US overtook China to become Taiwan’s largest export destination, while shipments to ASEAN climbed 35.6 percent to more than US$100 billion, positioning the bloc as Taiwan’s second-largest market.
Taiwan’s export expansion has accelerated rapidly in recent years. After taking decades to climb from US$100 billion to US$400 billion, shipments leaped from US$400 billion to US$600 billion in just four years — an achievement unmatched among Asia’s four newly industrialized economies, Tsai said.
Last year’s export growth was the strongest in close to 15 years, far outpacing major economies, she said.
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