TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s economy could grow close to 6% this year given the unexpected strong performance in the third quarter, the head of the statistics agency said on Thursday, as the island reaps the benefits from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Taiwan’s export-oriented economy has soaked up strong demand in the crucial semiconductor and tech sector thanks to AI, which has offset the impact from the 20% tariff on exports to the United States the Trump administration has imposed.
Taiwan’s gross domestic product grew 7.64% year-on-year in the July-September quarter, surpassing the 6.0% forecast by economists in a Reuters poll and paving the way to raise the full-year forecast to more than 5%, the agency said last month.
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Minister Chen Shu-tzu told lawmakers that this year the economy could grow more than 5.5%, approaching 6%.
The agency had originally thought GDP in the third quarter would only grow around 1%, but in the end it hit 7.64%, which prompted the upward revision of the full-year forecast, she added.
Taiwan is a major hub in the global technology supply chain for giants such as Nvidia, and home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing , whose semiconductors are widely used for AI applications.
Taiwan remains in talks with Washington to try and reduce the tariffs, which do not apply to semiconductors.
A formal unveiling by the agency of the final forecast for 2025, as well as an updated prediction for 2026, will come on November 28.
(Reporting by Jeanny Kao; Writing by Ben BlanchardEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
