By Faith Hung and Jeanny Kao
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s export orders could hit a record in 2025 and exceed $700 billion, the Economy Ministry said on Thursday, as demand for the island’s chips and technology remains strong in the global race to develop artificial intelligence.
Export orders in October rose 25.1% from a year earlier to $69.37 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said, though that slightly trailed analysts’ expectations for a 28.2% increase.
Still, that was its 10th straight monthly gain as worries about U.S. tariffs were offset by solid technology demand.
For the full-year of 2025, export orders could very well reach a record, topping $700 billion, the ministry said.
BELLWETHER FOR GLOBAL TECH DEMAND
Orders for goods from Taiwan, home of the world’s largest contract chipmaker TSMC and other tech companies, are considered a bellwether of global technology demand.
For November, the ministry said it expected export orders to rise between 27.6% and 31.4% from a year ago.
A general tariff rate of 20% has been imposed on Taiwan’s exports to the United States by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. Taiwan’s government has said the 20% tariff was temporary as it continues to negotiate with the U.S. for more favourable rates.
Uncertainties such as global trade policy and geopolitical risks continue to weigh on global trade momentum, the ministry said in a statement.
But the momentum for orders would be supported as new applications such as AI and high-performance computing continue to expand, while the fourth quarter is typically the high season ahead of the year-end holidays in Western markets, it said.
Taiwan’s orders in October for telecoms products were up 28.4% from a year earlier, while those for electronic products jumped 35.9%.
Overall orders from China were up 9.8%, versus an 11.6% gain in September.
Orders from the United States rose 32.1%, after a surge of 40.2% the month before. Orders from Europe were up 13.6%, and those from Japan rose 14.8%.
(Reporting by Faith Hung and Jeanny Kao; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Alex Richardson)
