Strong demand for AI boosts manufacturing sales, and the economic outlook continues to be red and yellow in February

2025/04/08

TechNews Financial News
March 27, 2025
Author: Central News Agency Su Siyun

The National Development Council today announced the economic indicators for February, with an overall assessment score of 37 points, an increase of 2 points from the revised value of 35 points in January, and the indicator light continued to be yellow-red. The National Development Council stated that thanks to strong demand for AI, manufacturing sales have performed well, and the domestic economic momentum is quite stable, but we still need to pay close attention to changes in the future.

Among the 9 items under observation, the manufacturing sales volume index and the turnover of wholesale, retail and catering industries all turned red, increasing by 2 points each; the overtime hours in industry and services turned green, decreasing by 2 points; the remaining 6 lights remained unchanged.

Chiu Chiu-ying, director of the Economic Development Department of the National Development Council, said that January and February are usually disrupted by the Spring Festival, and there are more working days in February this time, but overall, domestic manufacturing sales and consumption momentum are still impressive, even with double-digit growth.

Chiu Chiu-ying explained that the reasons for the increase in leading indicators include manufacturers' demand for factory expansion, which has driven up construction area of building floors, AI demand pushing up imports of semiconductor equipment, and manufacturing business testing points.

As for the current comprehensive score of 37 points, it is already at the upper edge of the yellow-red light (32 to 37 points). Is there a chance that it will turn red in March? Qiu Qiuying did not respond directly, but only said that the future trend will mainly depend on the leading indicators. The leading indicators have risen for four consecutive months, with a cumulative increase of 1.64%, a slight expansion, and the economic momentum is quite stable. At the same time, the indicators have risen for 22 consecutive months, with a cumulative increase of 12.8%.

The electricity price review meeting is expected to take place on the 28th. The outside world is concerned about whether rising electricity prices may impact consumption momentum. Chiu Chiu-ying pointed out that it is not convenient to comment further as it still depends on the results of the review meeting. The Executive Yuan's price stabilization group meeting yesterday also decided to extend the tax reduction measures for key raw materials until the end of September.

US President Trump has been wielding the tariff sword and making frequent moves. The media asked how this might affect Taiwan's industrial development momentum. Chiu Chiu-ying said that Trump's policies are highly uncertain, and the government currently has an inter-departmental task force conducting sandbox simulations and making every effort to prepare to help companies diversify their layout and minimize the impact.

Looking ahead, the National Development Council stated that global technology giants are increasing capital expenditures on AI and data centers, and as AI applications extend to terminal electronic products, the semiconductor supply chain has a competitive advantage, which will help continue export momentum. However, the global economy continues to be affected by factors such as the economic and trade policy trends of major countries, the progress of geopolitical peace negotiations, and the different paces of monetary policies among countries. We still need to pay close attention to the impact on the domestic economy.

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