Taiwan December exports beat forecasts; govt sees secure outlook on AI

By Religion Hung and Roger Tung

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan’s exports rose greater than anticipated in December, buoyed by sturdy demand for semiconductors from the synthetic intelligence (AI) trade and continued, though weaker, demand from China.

Exports rose 9.2% from the identical month a yr in the past to $43.59 billion, its second-highest degree, the finance ministry stated on Thursday, beating a forecast of 6.5% progress in a Reuters ballot. The rise, though barely under November’s achieve of 9.7%, marked the 14th straight month-to-month rise.

The ministry stated the expansion outlook into the primary quarter was secure due to demand for semiconductors for AI, however stated January exports may fall between 1% and 4% on yr due to the lengthy Chinese language lunar new yr vacation.

Folks in China often journey to their hometowns forward of the competition, which begins on January 29 this yr, and plenty of companies shut for an prolonged interval.

China is Taiwan’s greatest buying and selling companion.

The fourth quarter is historically robust for Taiwan exports because of the peak end-of-year buying season within the U.S. and Europe.

Taiwan corporations reminiscent of TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, are main suppliers to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and different tech giants.

In December, exports to the USA rose 16.0% yr on yr to $9.845 billion, versus a ten.6% achieve in November.

Exports to China rose 3.6%, slowing after a bounce of 9.5% the earlier month. China’s $18 trillion financial system is struggling to get better from the pandemic and manufacturing exercise barely grew in December, based on official Chinese language knowledge.

Taiwan’s whole exports of digital parts rose 8.6% in December on the yr to $17.21 billion, with semiconductor exports up 9.4%.

Imports rose 30.4% to $37.51 billion in December, quicker than economists’ forecasts for a achieve of 15.1%.