A bi-weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Pegatron enters Tesla supply chain Apple supplier Pegatron has recently expanded its cooperation with U.S. car producer Tesla. According to news sources, Pegatron has recently entered Tesla’s charging station supply chain and is expected to move into mass…
DBS economist Ma Tieying takes the most bullish view of Taiwan’s economic prospects for 2021, forecasting GDP growth of 4.2%. The most cautious position among those interviewed for this report was from Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute President Liang Kuo-yuan, whose forecast is “at least 3%.” In between is the government’s own statistics agency, which expects growth…
Taiwan has been a major beneficiary of global circumstances in 2020. It must now take steps to maintain economic momentum as a new year approaches. Despite a devastating pandemic that the International Monetary Fund predicts will shrink the world economy by 4.4% this year, Taiwan proved itself to be a global economic star. It was one…
Ending the Year on a High Note With the winter months approaching and much of the world experiencing upticks in COVID-19 cases and deaths, new lockdown measures in Europe and the U.S. could result in a drop in demand for end products and a slowing of economic recovery. That prospect has not done much to…
Sustained Optimism on 2020 Growth National Development Council (NDC) Minister Kung Ming-hsin said that based on recent economic data, Taiwan’s GDP growth rate for 2020 is expected to exceed the government’s August forecast of 1.56%. The more optimistic outlook contrasts with the International Monetary Fund’s prediction that the island would experience zero growth this year,…
Trade Keeps Rising, As Do Spirits Spirits were high at the SEMICON Taiwan 2020 international conference, held both online and offline at the Nangang Exhibition Center in late September. One of the recurring themes was the post-COVID-19 economic rally that Taiwan is experiencing, in contrast to most markets in the West. The government’s effective early…
Modest Progress for Trade & Retail Taiwan’s travel and tourism industry felt the strong impact of travel restrictions in Q2, with both revenue and expenses falling to record lows since the government began collecting the data in 1984. Statistics released by Taiwan’s Central Bank in August show that between April and June, monthly travel income…
An Exclusive Interview with National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin Taiwan has done a stellar job of managing the COVID-19 pandemic, and has experienced comparatively minimal economic damage. Now it is time to start thinking about how it can capitalize on its strong high-tech capabilities and the international goodwill it has earned to become a…
Promising new opportunities have been opening for Taiwan’s economic development. Although COVID-19 has wrecked numerous economies around the world, Taiwan has been a notable exception. Remarkably, Taiwan has emerged from the pandemic not only almost unscathed, but with even greater confidence and prospects for growth than anytime during the last two decades. Pundits have tended…
Market Rallies While Trade Stagnates Many in Taiwan and around the world took notice in late July as the market cap for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) broke US$400 billion, briefly making it the world’s 10th most valuable company. The 10% spike in the chip manufacturer’s share value caused a record flurry of intraday trading…
