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Taiwan exports hit record February on AI demand
Taiwan’s exports rose 20.6% year-on-year in February to US$49.8 billion, the Ministry of Finance said, marking the strongest February on record as demand for AI, high-performance computing, and cloud-based devices offset holiday effects.
The ministry said exports expanded for a 28th consecutive month and that the US showed the fastest growth at 33.7% year-on-year.
Fewer working days for the Lunar New Year pushed exports down 24.3% from January’s US$65.8 billion.
In January and February combined, exports rose 44.5% to US$115.6 billion, the ministry said.
Imports climbed 32.5% to US$83.9 billion, leaving a trade surplus of US$31.7 billion.
ICT products led Jan‑Feb growth, up 81.5% to US$48.2 billion, with computing products, including servers, almost doubling to US$18.2 billion.
Electronic components rose 41.9% to US$40.3 billion, while semiconductor exports jumped 43.6% to US$38.1 billion, and DRAM exports surged 185.5%.
🔗 Source: Taipei Times
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Implications, context, and why it matters.
Taiwan’s export boom is increasingly tied to North American AI supply chains
- AI, high-performance computing, and cloud devices are lifting Taiwan’s exports. Exports to the U.S. rose 33.7% year on year in February, Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance said.
- Taiwanese electronics manufacturers are moving advanced IT hardware production from China to Mexico and the U.S. This shift tracks the AI data center buildout 1.
- Foxconn, Inventec, Wistron, and Pegatron said they plan to build AI servers in Texas in 2025. For Inventec, Wistron, and Pegatron, it would be their first U.S. manufacturing operations 1.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is expanding its Arizona semiconductor-fab buildout. It raised planned investment to $65 billion by 2024 1.
- Cross-border operations match the “twin plant model” from the NAFTA era. Mexico supplies lower-cost inputs while U.S. sites handle higher value-added work 1.
The AI boom also heightens energy and component supply risks
- Conflict in the Middle East could squeeze Taiwan’s energy supply and raise prices. Taiwan News said QatarEnergy (Qatar’s state-owned energy company) halted liquefied natural gas (LNG) production after Iranian drone attacks, and Qatar is Taiwan’s key LNG supplier 2.
- Taiwan has diversified energy sources. Taiwan News said higher fuel costs could lift inflation, and authorities may review international fuel-price assessments plus electricity rates 2.
- The AI boom is also tightening supplies of memory chips such as DRAM (dynamic random-access memory), a type of short-term data storage used in servers and PCs.
- Taipei Times said memory makers are allocating capacity to high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Nanya Technology (a Taiwan-based memory-chip maker) said the shortage in standard DRAM could run through 2028 3.
