Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's export orders surged nearly 40 percent from a year earlier in November, hitting a record monthly high, as artificial intelligence applications continued to boost global demand, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Tuesday.
Data compiled by the MOEA showed the country's export orders totaled US$72.92 billion in November, up 39.5 percent from a year earlier, marking the 10th consecutive month of year-on-year growth.
In the first 11 months of this year, Taiwan's export orders also smashed records after rising 24.2 percent from a year earlier to NT$666.65 billion, the data indicated.
Huang Wei-jie (黃偉傑), head of the MOEA's Department of Statistics, told reporters that the local tech sector benefited from better than expected demand for Nvidia's GB300 AI servers and a spike in memory chip sales.
The local electronic components industry reported US$28.23 billion in export orders, up 47.9 percent from a year earlier, while information and communications industry exports rose 69.4 percent to US$26.80 billion, the MOEA said.
Bucking the upturn in the tech sector, the optical equipment industry reported a 2.4 percent year-on-year decline in exports valued at US$1.74 billion in November as demand for flat panels and backlight modules weakened, the MOEA added.
The MOEA said global demand was uneven with local old economy industries largely on a downtrend in November on a global supply glut.
In November, the base metal industry posted US$1.94 billion in export orders, down 0.5 percent from a year earlier, while the plastics and rubber industry reported US$1.30 billion in export orders, down 15.8 percent, the MOEA said.
However, export orders generated by the machinery industry rose 6.9 percent from a year earlier to US$1.80 billion with semiconductor suppliers keen to add equipment for production expansion, the MOEA added.
The ministry said the United States placed the largest number of orders in terms of value at US$28.45 billion in November, up 56.1 percent from a year earlier with most of the orders going to information and communication device suppliers, followed by the ASEAN bloc (US$13.58 billion).
According to an estimate from the MOEA, export orders will rise 36.1-39.8 percent from a year earlier to US$72.0-74.0 billion in December, further boosted by AI. For 2025, export orders are likely to range between US$738.7-US$740.7 billion and could even reach NT$750 billion.
