Taiwan's exports hit an all-time monthly record of nearly US$44B in August, driven by demand for high-end chips powering artificial intelligence. August also saw record-high exports to the U.S., surpassing the record to China.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Leaning into its advantage as the world's largest chipmaker, Taiwan is reaching new
00:07heights for its economy.
00:10Exports rose to a record $43.6 billion, exceeding market forecasts as demand for AI and high-performance
00:18computing remains strong.
00:21Breaking it down by country, a new record was also set in exports to the U.S.
00:27This figure soared almost 80% to hit $11.8 billion, giving the U.S. a continued lead
00:34over China as the top destination for Taiwanese exports, especially its very expensive advanced
00:42chips.
00:43It's confirming and I would say even deepening Taiwan's kind of monosectoral economy.
00:53It is chips and chips and chips, just that more valuable chips.
00:58It's good news, but it's a warning signal of a very concentrated sector, but also a
01:05very concentrated destination, the U.S.
01:09The U.S. leads the global market in the design and software of advanced chips, like the ones
01:14for AI.
01:16With giants like NVIDIA, AMD and major consumer electronics brands like Apple that just revealed
01:22its latest iPhone equipped with new AI capabilities, the U.S. is the main initiator behind this
01:29boom.
01:30These are all customers of TSMC, which is reporting an August revenue boost of 33%,
01:37hitting $7.8 billion.
01:40The scale of this is clear in Taiwan's export numbers, namely in this category, automatic
01:46data processing machinery.
01:49It's a broad category within computers, but it includes things like central processing
01:53units and helps computers process more things at a faster pace.
01:58And this is the hardware AI demands.
02:01Taiwan's exports to the U.S. in this category in August dwarfs the amount that went to China
02:07at $5.9 billion versus a mere $39 million.
02:14Some economists are concerned that Taiwan may be putting all of its eggs into the AI
02:20basket, a hot sector for now, but one that has yet to stand the test of time.
02:25Yixin Chen and Joyce Chen for Taiwan Plus.