Taiwan Exports Hit New High in AI-Driven Economy

TaiwanPlus News

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.

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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.

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