Taiwan August export orders beat forecasts on solid AI demand

Taiwan's export orders rose for the seventh straight month in August, fuelled by demand for tech products such as those related to artificial intelligence, but global trade uncertainty continues to cloud the outlook.

Export orders rose 19.5% in August on the year to $60.02 billion, the economic affairs ministry said on Tuesday, beating analysts' expectations for a 13% increase.

Orders for goods from Taiwan, home of the world's largest contract chipmaker TSMC and other tech companies, are considered a bellwether of global technology demand.

Trade-reliant Taiwan's export performance this year could be affected as U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose a tariff of 20% on its goods.

Taiwan's government has said the 20% tariff is "temporary" as it continues to negotiate with the U.S. for more favourable rates.

"Uncertainties such as global trade policy and geopolitical risks continue to weigh on global trade momentum," the ministry said in a statement.

But orders momentum will be supported as new applications such as AI and high-performance computing continue to expand, while the second half is typically the high season ahead of year-end holidays in Western markets, it said.

For September, the ministry said it expected export orders to rise between 19% and 22.7% from a year ago.

Taiwan's orders in August for telecoms products were up 20.6% on the year, while those for electronic products climbed 39.5%.

Overall orders from China edged down 0.7%, slowing from a gain of 3.6% in July.

Orders from the United States climbed 33.6%, compared with a rise of 25.4% the month before.

Orders from Europe went down 0.3%, and those from Japan rose 21.0%.