South China Morning Post
Advertisement
Advertisement
Taiwan
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
A silicon wafer is displayed at the headquarters of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chip maker. Photo: Reuters
Tech

Huawei’s stockpiling of chips drives up Taiwan exports for second consecutive month

  • Exports jumped 9.4 per cent from a year earlier to US$30.71 billion in September, following an 8.3 per cent increase in August to a record US$31.2 billion
  • Taiwan’s finance ministry said exports were also driven by the start of the peak shopping season for electronics
Taiwan
Reuters
Reuters
Why you can trust SCMP
Taiwan’s exports rose in September, boosted again by Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies’ rush to get in orders at Taiwanese firms before they had to comply with US curbs that took effect last month.

Exports jumped 9.4 per cent from a year earlier to US$30.71 billion in September, the second-highest monthly tally on record, Taiwan’s finance ministry said on Wednesday. A Reuters poll had forecast a rise of 6.6 per cent for the month.

In August, Taiwan’s exports rose 8.3 per cent to a record high of US$31.2 billion amid high demand of chips and other hi-tech components from Huawei.

Apart from Huawei’s efforts to stockpile supplies before the US restrictions kicked in, Taiwan’s finance ministry said exports were also driven by the start of the peak shopping season for electronics.

Taiwanese chip maker TSMC warns US-China deleveraging will drive up costs

The Trump administration in August expanded its curbs on Huawei, the world’s largest telecoms gear maker and China’s biggest smartphone vendor. Washington banned suppliers from selling chips made using US technology to the Chinese company without a special licence. That came on top of May restrictions, which fully took effect on September 14.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s biggest contract chip maker, said in July that it had stopped taking new orders from Huawei in May and did not plan to ship wafers after September 15.

Tech powerhouse Taiwan, whose largest trading partner is mainland China, could see October exports in the range of a 2 per cent contraction to a 1 per cent rise year on year, the island’s finance ministry said.

While the coronavirus pandemic and US-China trade tensions remained sources of concern, the upcoming shopping season in the US and Europe as well as the work-from-home trend that has helped demand for Taiwan’s tech products should keep export demand steady, the ministry added.

Taiwan’s September imports unexpectedly fell 5.4 per cent, against economists’ expectations for a 3 per cent increase.

The island’s electronics manufacturers are a major part of the global supply chain for tech giants such as Apple.
Post