Taiwan GDP growth misses forecasts

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By Faith Hung and Jeanny Kao

TAIPEI- Taiwan’s trade-dependent economy grew less than expected in the fourth quarter of 2024 but managed the fastest growth in three years last year at 4.3 percent, reaping the benefits of the AI boom and a recovery in demand from China.

Analysts warned of uncertainty in the year ahead, however, potentially affected by US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies or calls to boost production in the United States, which Taishin Investment Advisory analyst Kevin Wang said could influence Taiwanese companies’ investment planning.

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Taiwan is a key part of the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple and Nvidia and is home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co

Gross domestic product grew a preliminary 1.84 percent in the October-December period from a year earlier, the statistics agency said on Friday, missing the 2.0 percent growth forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. It was also slower than the 4.17 percent expansion in the third quarter. 

“Q4 growth was below forecasts mainly due to a substantial increase of imported equipment, which offset the contribution of exports, even though AI applications and information and telecommunications products led to a 9.09 percent gain in exports year on year,” Taishin Investment Advisory’s Wang said.

Quarter-on-quarter, the economy in October-December grew at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 2.04 percent.

Fourth-quarter exports rose 9.1 percent year-on-year, slightly faster than the third-quarter’s 8.1 percent, powered by tech-heavy exporters including chipmakers that got a boost from AI-related demand. —Reuters

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