Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/15
By: Liao Yu-yang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) The production value of the local integrated circuit (IC) sector rose more than 5 percent from a year earlier, reversing a decline in the previous two quarters, on the back of the launch of new electronic devices and investment in 5G infrastructure, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Friday.

Data compiled by the MOEA's statistics department showed that the output of Taiwan's semiconductor sector totaled NT$396 billion (US$12.98 billion), up 5.1 percent from a year earlier.

The third-quarter growth reversed a 10.8 percent year-on-year decline in the first quarter, which suffered from weakening smartphone sales and falling cryptocurrency transactions, and a 3.1 percent drop in the second quarter, when the industry suffered inventory adjustments, the data indicated.

In the first nine months of this year, the production value of the local IC industry stood at NT$1.06 trillion, still down 2.8 percent from a year earlier, the MOEA said.    [FULL  STORY]