ICT Industry Leaders Foresee Taiwan’s Sluggish Export to Rebound in Q3

As Taiwan's export value has been on a continuous downtrend for the past eight months, the Taiwanese government holds pessimistic views that the economy will not bottom out until the fourth quarter of this year. However, a statement from Foxconn Chairman Young Liu on May 25 suggests that the turnaround may occur earlier, in the third quarter. Richard Lee, Chairman of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (TEEMA), also echoes Liu’s opinion, due to the thriving ICT industry.

During the 2nd TEEMA member congress held on May 25, Liu, who serves as the convener of TEEMA’s Board of Supervisors, revealed his optimism regarding Taiwan's economic outlook, partly because of Foxconn's ambitious and promising business strategy, including the launching of Taiwan's first low earth orbit satellite and strengthening its market share in ICT products to bolster its gross margin.

In the member congress, Lee also addressed the press and emphasized the deteriorating state of the global economy, which began in the fourth quarter of 2022 and has resulted in a sustained decline in Taiwan's export value and orders. Nevertheless, he feels that Taiwan's ICT industry is very likely to rally back starting in the third quarter of 2023. And despite the recession in the smartphone market and sluggish demand for PCs, there is encouraging news of the increasing demand for high-end gaming laptops and other specialized models, which could potentially sustain the performance levels achieved in the previous year.

Furthermore, there are still promising prospects for Taiwanese suppliers of servers and automobile electronics, as new technologies like ChatGPT and electric vehicles have gained popularity, which are expected to together pump growth momentum into Taiwan’s ICT industry. Lee stressed that Taiwan’s high-tech industry is comparatively versed at high-performance computing (HPC) and computing power, and therefore holds sway in the global supply chain of GPUs and high-end semiconductors. In spite of his optimistic views, Lee added, whether China's economic recovery, global inflation and geopolitical risks like the Russia-Ukraine war, will turn out to be force majeure remains to be seen.