The nation’s industrial production contracted for a seventh month last month, down 14.52 percent annually, due to persistent weakness in demand for semiconductors, flat panels and other components amid prolonged inventory digestion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Industrial production in the first quarter declined 14.52 percent, while manufacturing production dipped 15.39 percent from a year earlier, with most sub-indices posting double-digit percent drops, ministry statistics showed.
Traditional industries, such as petrochemicals and basic metal sectors, have passed the trough and picked up steam last month, while the chip sector showed continued weakness in demand due to inventory corrections, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council
“The ministry’s inventory report to be released next month shows a positive trend, with inventory at local firms improving gradually month-on-month, Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑) said.
“However, on an annual basis, inventory continues to rise, indicating there is still a long way to go before returning to healthier levels, especially on the semiconductor front,” he added.
“Overall, the visibility for the second quarter is low,” Huang said. “The end-market demand continues to be depressed by unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and excessive stockpiles.”
Manufacturing production this month is expected to dip further to between 108.60 and 112.60, or an annual rate of 16 percent to 18.9 percent, Huang said, citing a ministry survey in which only 10 percent of respondents expected business to grow this month.
Manufacturing production last month beat ministry expectations of an annual contraction of 19.1 percent. The computer and optical component sectors performed better than expected by gaining 0.15 percent annually last month due to robust demand for servers and networking devices, Huang said.
“The growth was aided by a major shift in supply chains that occurred as a result of a trade dispute between the US and China. Taiwanese manufacturers are benefiting from such shifts,” Huang said.
“Some Taiwanese manufacturers have shifted production back home to cope with such changes,” he added.
The automotive segment also outperformed expectations last month, with vehicle and component production rising 1.84 percent from a year earlier due to alleviation in supply constraints.
Decline in the production of electronic components accelerated to 22 percent year-on-year last month from a reduction of 18.74 percent in February. Within the sub-index, chip production sank 18.87 percent and flat panel production plummeted 43.79 percent on an annual basis.
The petrochemical sector saw production drop 12.2 percent year-on-year last month, the smallest decline in nine months, showing the segment moving in a positive direction as inventory correction approaches an end, the ministry said.
The basic metals segment also showed improvement, with production last month falling 14.23 percent annually, the ministry said.
Machinery tool output contracted 21.91 percent year-on-year last month, as global economic uncertainty resulted in conservative capacity expansion investment.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI