Taiwan's exports rise for 15th straight month on AI boom

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Taiwan's exports rose for the 15th consecutive month in year-over-year terms in January on the back of a boom of artificial intelligence development, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Friday.

Data compiled by the MOF showed the country's exports rose 4.4 percent from a year earlier to US$38.71 billion in January, beating an earlier forecast of US$35.6 billion to US$36.7 billion, down 1-4 percent from a year earlier.

In January, Taiwan's imports stood at US$28.74 billion, down 17.2 percent from a year earlier, due to seasonal reasons, with a trade surplus at US$9.97 billion, up 317.9 percent from a year earlier.

Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜), director-general of the ministry's Department of Statistics, said that while the Lunar New Year holiday cut short the working days by five in January and slow season effects affected buying, the tech sector continued to ride the growing popularity of AI and high-performance computing devices.

Tsai said Taiwanese exporters also benefited from a spike in global demand ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and before tariff actions taken by U.S. President Donald Trump.

According to the MOF, the latest export figure hit the second-highest level for January, behind US$39.98 billion in January 2022.

The electronics component industry reported US$13.99 billion in exports in January, up 3.1 percent from a year earlier, and accounting for 36.1 percent of the total exports with outbound sales in semiconductors up 4.2 percent from a year earlier to US$13.04 billion, the MOF added.

In the information and communications and video/audio industry, exports hit about US$12.50 billion, the highest level for any January, up 32.6 percent from a year earlier and making up 32.3 percent of the country's total exports.

However, old economy industries largely saw their outbound sales affected by slow season effects and the reduced number of working days, Tsai said, adding the old economy sector was also affected by an oversupply in the global market.

The base metal industry posted US$2.09 billion in exports in January, down 14.6 percent from a year earlier, while the machinery industry also reported a 5.7 percent year-on-year fall in exports which totaled US$1.87 billion, the MOF's data showed.

According to the MOF, exports posed by the plastics/rubber industry, and the chemical industry also fell 12.3 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively, from a year earlier to US$1.43 billion and US$1.29 billion in January.

Transportation tool exporters reported US$845 million in sales in January, down 8.0 percent from a year earlier, while electric machinery exporters reported US$1.12 billion in sales in the month, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the MOF said.

China and Hong Kong remained the largest buyer of Taiwan-made goods after purchasing US$10.71 billion but the figure was down 11.7 percent from a year earlier.

In second was the United States, which bought US$8.46 billion in goods from Taiwan, up 0.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the MOF.

The ASEAN bloc came in third after purchasing US$8.28 billion worth of goods from Taiwan, up 21.5 percent from a year earlier on the back of an increase in exports in information and communications and semiconductor items, the MOF said.

Looking ahead, the MOF said Taiwan's exports are expected to hit US$36.5 billion-US$37.7 billion in February, up 16-20 percent from a year earlier.