Strong iPhone 6 demand boosts Taiwan export orders
Booming shipments of the iPhone 6 helped Taiwan's export orders jump 12.7 percent in September year-on-year to a record $43.3 billion, the government said Monday.
It marked an eighth straight month of growth in export orders for tech-rich Taiwan, the economic ministry said in a statement.
Orders for information and mobile devices rose 16.3 percent from a year ago to $12.9 billion, "mainly due to the launch of international brand name mobile devices that led to the significant increase of orders", the ministry said.
Taiwanese giant Hon Hai—the parent company of Foxconn in China and the world's largest computer components manufacturer—assembles products for Apple, as well as Sony and Nokia.
Its revenues surged 22.95 percent year-on-year in September to Tw$415.4 billion ($13.66 billion).
Media reports say local firms Pegatron Corp worked on the assembly of the new iPhone and TSMC—the world's biggest contract microchip maker—manufactured its chips, although neither company has confirmed the contracts.
The economic ministry also credited rising demand for laptop computers for the boost in orders. Taiwanese firms produce laptops for a range of major brands including HP, Dell and Lenovo, while Acer alone has a 10.8 percent global market share, according to Taipei-based Digitimes Research.
Export orders—those filed to manufacturers one or two months ahead of delivery—are a key indicator for the island's export-reliant economy.
Orders for electronic products surged 19.4 percent year-on-year as the increased shipments of mobile devices spurred business for the semiconductor and computer memory storage sectors, the ministry said.
Export orders from the United States hit a record $11.4 billion, up 15.5 percent year-on-year and up 20.6 percent from the previous month.
Orders from mainland China and Hong Kong, Taiwan's other major overseas markets, rose 8.6 percent year-on-year to $10.4 billion.
Apple launched the iPhone 6 and larger-screen iPhone 6 Plus on September 19, selling 10 million units in the opening weekend.
© 2014 AFP
