Taiwan's January export orders hit record US$76.91 billion, up 60 percent

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) Taiwan's export orders surged 60.1 percent from a year earlier in January to a record US$76.91 billion, driven by robust demand for AI and base effects from the Lunar New Year holiday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said on Wednesday.

It marked the first time export orders have topped US$70 billion in what is traditionally a slow season, according to the MOEA's Department of Statistics.

Orders for information and communications products rose 102.0 percent year-on-year to US$25.15 billion, the largest increase in nearly 40 years, fueled by strong demand for AI applications, servers, and cloud-related services, according to the MOEA.

Electronic product orders also hit a January record of US$32.59 billion, up 78.6 percent year on year, supported by sustained demand for AI and high-performance computing.

Optical instrument orders climbed 18.6 percent to US$1.89 billion on continued semiconductor investment.

Traditional industries also posted gains.

Orders for base metals, plastics and rubber products, and chemicals grew between 8.8 percent and 13.9 percent, while machinery orders jumped 40.6 percent, the strongest growth in more than four years.

Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑), head of the statistics department, said the rebound in traditional sectors was largely due to holiday-related base effects and advance stocking, adding that a clearer picture would emerge after combined January-February data are available.