Industrial production rises for 8th straight month in October

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Taiwan's industrial production rose by more than 8 percent in October from a year earlier, marking the eighth consecutive monthly of year-on-year increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Monday.

The rise in industrial production last month was mainly due to the continuous global demand for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence applications, high-performance computing (HPC) devices and cloud services that pushed the integrated circuit industry subindex to a record monthly high of 125.64, according to the ministry.

Data released by the MOEA showed the industrial production index for October rose 8.85 percent from a year earlier to 100.6.

In October, the sub-index for the manufacturing sector, which accounts for more than 90 percent of total production, rose 9.32 percent from a year earlier to 100.51, also the eighth straight monthly increase, the data indicated.

In the first 10 months of this year, the industrial production index rose 10.68 percent from a year earlier to 94.07 with the manufacturing sector sub-index surging 11.11 percent to 93.71, the data showed.

In October, production posted by the electronic components industry rose 16.47 percent to a record monthly high of 112.03, with production generated by integrated circuit suppliers up 19.78 percent to 125.64.

Thanks to solid demand for AI servers, the production sub-index for the IC industry is expected to rise in the next two months, Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑), deputy head of the MOEA's Department of Statistics, said during a news conference on Monday.

However, production in the flat panel-making sector fell 6.8 percent from a year earlier in October, marking a third consecutive monthly decline, according to Huang.

Production in the computer and optoelectronics industry rose 4.35 percent from a year earlier in October, to hit a historic high of 129.45, marking the 16th straight monthly increase, he added.

As the fourth quarter is a new product replacement period for servers, some manufacturers have reported that during the period, AI server production capacity may slow down and general-purpose servers increase.

Due to a high comparison base in the second half of last year, AI server production capacity may slow down in the same period this year, Huang said.

According to a survey among manufacturers, momentum for new server products will emerge as soon as December this year, and large-scale production capacity should appear in the first quarter of next year, Huang said.

In October, the old economy recovered more slowly than expected as the machinery industry posted an 11.06 percent year-on-year surge in production, due mainly to an increase in the production of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and components.

Meanwhile, production posted by the base metal industry, the chemical material and fertilizer sector, and the auto and auto parts industry moved lower by 3.52 percent, 5.01 percent, and 12.59 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Looking ahead, Huang said that the manufacturing production sub-index in November is expected to be between 98.08 and 102.08, with an annual increase of 5.8 percent to 10.1 percent.

In addition, if there is a chance for this year's manufacturing production sub-index to maintain double-digit growth, the subindex in November and December must post an average 4.9 percent year-on-year increase to 95.96, he added.