TAIPEI- Taiwan’s trade-dependent economy grew at its fastest quarterly pace in nearly three years in the first three months of 2024 and quicker than expected thanks to strong exports driven by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Taiwan is a key hub in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple and Nvidia and home to the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC)
Gross domestic product grew by a preliminary 6.51 percent in the January-March period from a year earlier, the statistics agency said on Tuesday, beating the 5.65 percent growth forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
The reading was the fastest quarterly growth since the second quarter of 2021, when it expanded 8.07 percent.
Quarter-on-quarter, the economy grew at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 1.13 percent .
GDP grew 4.93 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year.
First-quarter exports rose 12.9 percent versus the same period in 2023, compared with the fourth quarter’s annual expansion of just 3.4 percent , as Taiwan’s tech heavy exporters like chip makers rode a wave of AI demand.
The economy in China, Taiwan’s largest export market, grew faster than expected in the first quarter, expanding 5.3 percent year-on-year and comfortably topping forecasts but more recent data have pointed to a loss of momentum.
Taiwan’s statistics agency will provide revised figures a few weeks later, with more details and forward-looking forecasts.
