Industrial production rises for 7th straight month in September

Taipei, Oct. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's industrial production rose more than 11 percent in September from a year earlier, marking the seventh consecutive monthly year-on-year increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Wednesday.

The rise in industrial production was mainly due to the export-oriented manufacturing sector receiving a boost from global demand for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence applications, high performance computing (HPC) devices and cloud services, according to the ministry.

Data compiled by the MOEA showed the country's industrial production index rose 11.22 percent from a year earlier to 99.51 in September after a 12.54 percent year-on-year increase in August.

In September, the sub-index for the manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 90 percent of total production, rose 12.11 percent from a year earlier to 99.4, which was also the seventh straight monthly increase, the data indicated.

In the third quarter of this year, the industrial production index rose 12.25 percent from a year earlier to 99.36 with the sub-index of the manufacturing sector surging 13.00 percent to 98.99, the data showed.

In the first nine months of this year, the industrial production index rose 10.91 percent from a year earlier to 93.35 with the manufacturing sector sub-index surging 11.34 percent to 92.97, the data showed.

Thanks to solid demand for AI and HPC gadgets, the production sub-index for the electronic components industry moved up by 19.03 percent from a year earlier to 106.29, Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑), deputy head of the MOEA's Department of Statistics, said during a news conference.

The continued growth in output of 12-inch wafer foundry services and motherboards, as well as the expansion of integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services and 8-inch wafer foundry products, further pushed up the IC industry sub-index to 118.16, a record high, with an annual increase of 23.77 percent, according to Huang.

However, production in the flat panel making sector fell 8.43 percent from a year earlier in September, marking a second consecutive monthly decline. The drop was mainly because strong TV panel sales driven by the Olympic Games has ended, Huang said.

Production in the computer and optoelectronics industry rose 32.41 percent from a year earlier in September to hit a historic high.

Huang said the accelerated expansion of AI applications and strong demand for cloud data services, as well as the growth of mobile phone lens orders, coupled with the continued growth of investment momentum in the semiconductor industry, have led to increases in the production of servers, mobile device lenses, other communication equipment, semiconductor testing equipment and components.

The computer and optoelectronics industry sub-index reached 163.84 in the third quarter, setting a new single-quarter record, with an annual growth rate of 34.85 percent, the largest growth since the fourth quarter of 2011.

However, the old economy's performance was lackluster with weaker than expected global economic growth, Huang said.

In September, production posted by the base metal industry fell 0.39 percent from a year earlier, while the chemical materials and fertilizer industry also posted a 2.34 percent year-on-year decline in production in the month, the MOEA said.

In addition, the auto and auto parts industry suffered a 15.28 percent year-on-year decline in production.

Bucking the downturn, the machinery industry posted a 1.08 percent year-on-year increase in production as the expanded application of emerging technologies led to an increase in the production of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and components.

Looking to the future, Huang said that the manufacturing production sub-index in October is expected to be between 98.75 and 102.75, with an annual increase of 7.4 percent to 11.8 percent. In addition, this year's manufacturing production sub-index is expected to end two consecutive years of negative growth, with potentially double-digit growth.