BEATING EXPECTATIONS: New smartphone launches have fueled demand for silicon wafers and DRAM chips, with IC demand rising 17.56 percent on an annual basis

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 26, 2018
By: Kuo Chia-erh  /  Staff reporter

The nation’s industrial production index hit 111.1 last month, an annual increase of 7.05 percent, beating the government’s previous forecast of 3 percent growth, propelled by growing demand for consumer electronics and communication products, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The manufacturing production index, which accounts for more than 90 percent of Taiwan’s industrial production, expanded the fastest of the four sub-sectors at 7.24 percent, the ministry said.

The growth was largely due production of electronic components, especially silicon wafers and DRAM chips.

“Though last month is usually the slow season for electronics components suppliers, demand turned out to be better than our expectations this year on the back of new smartphone launches,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) told a news conference.    [FULL  STORY]