Industrial production expanded 24.63 percent annually last quarter after the index climbed to a new high of 136.9 last month, driven by strong demand for cloud-based servers and semiconductors amid the race in artificial-intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Manufacturing production jumped 26.52 percent year-on-year in the first quarter as the index surged 30.73 percent annually to a record-high of 139.92 last month, the ministry said, adding that it was the 25th straight month of growth.
The ministry expected the growth to carry into the current quarter, thanks to the sustainable AI boom. The Middle East conflict is not expected to have a significant impact on local electronics manufacturers’ production, it said.
Photo: CNA
The geopolitical tensions are expected to have a mild impact on traditional sectors, as the government has adopted a multiple chemical and energy sourcing strategy and boosted inventories.
Under such circumstances, the ministry said manufacturing production this month would expand between 17.7 percent and 21.3 percent on an annual basis.
However, the growth rate could decelerate in the following months due to a higher base, it said.
Computer-related devices, such as servers, switches and semiconductor inspection tools, and optoelectronics saw the strongest growth, soaring 146.32 percent annually last month, and spiking 131.77 percent annually last quarter.
That was followed by the electronic component segment, with production expanding 27.87 percent year-on-year last month to an all-time high, and rising 25.6 percent annually last quarter. Among this subindex, semiconductor production jumped 33.68 percent annually last month to a historical high, bringing quarterly growth to 29.73 percent annually.
Flat-panel display production, another component of the electronic component subindex, weakened 14.66 percent annually last month, and slid 8.72 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the statistics showed.
In traditional sectors, machinery equipment, basic metals and auto and related components emerged from a prolonged slump, registering an annual growth of 7.48 percent, 5.54 percent and 0.1 percent respectively, the statistics showed.
However, chemical materials and fertilizer production remained in negative territory, shrinking 3.88 percent year-on-year last month.
Last quarter as a whole, only machinery equipment reposted an annual growth of 6.87 percent in production, thanks to increasing demand from semiconductor companies due to capacity expansions.
Basic metals, chemical materials and fertilizers, and auto and related components all reported annual reductions of 1.5 percent, 3.09 percent and 2.02 percent respectively last quarter, due to intensified competition and sluggish demand.
Shares of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) came under pressure yesterday after a report that Apple Inc is looking to shift some orders from the Taiwanese company to Intel Corp. TSMC shares fell NT$55, or 2.4 percent, to close at NT$2,235 on the local main board, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed. Despite the losses, TSMC is expected to continue to benefit from sound fundamentals, as it maintains a lead over its peers in high-end process development, analysts said. “The selling was a knee-jerk reaction to an Intel-Apple report over the weekend,” Mega International Investment Services Corp (兆豐國際投顧) analyst Alex Huang
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to remain Apple Inc’s primary chip manufacturing partner despite reports that Apple could shift some orders to Intel Corp, industry experts said yesterday. The comments came after The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple and Intel had reached a preliminary agreement following more than a year of negotiations for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台灣經濟研究院) economist Arisa Liu (劉佩真) said TSMC’s advanced packaging technologies, including integrated fan-out and chip-on-wafer-on-substrate, remain critical to the performance of Apple’s A-series and M-series chips. She said Intel and Samsung
TRANSITION: With the closure, the company would reorganize its Taiwanese unit to a sales and service-focused model, Bridgestone said Bridgestone Corp yesterday announced it would cease manufacturing operations at its tire plant in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), affecting more than 500 workers. Bridgestone Taiwan Co (台灣普利司通) said in a statement that the decision was based on the Tokyo-based tire maker’s adjustments to its global operational strategy and long-term market development considerations. The Taiwanese unit would be reorganized as part of the closure, effective yesterday, and all related production activities would be concluded, the statement said. Under the plan, Bridgestone would continue to deepen its presence in the Taiwanese market, while transitioning to a sales and service-focused business model, it added. The Hsinchu
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has approved a capital budget of US$31.28 billion for production expansion to meet long-term development needs during the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. The company’s board meeting yesterday approved the capital appropriation plan for purposes such as the installation of advanced technology capacity and fab construction, the world’s largest contract chipmaker said in a statement. At an earnings conference last month, TSMC forecast that its capital expenditure for this year would be at the higher end of the US$52 billion to US$56 billion range it forecast in January in response to robust demand for 5G, AI and
RSS