Taiwan registered its highest ever export orders for April, helped by rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications from across the globe, according to the Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) as reported by Focus Taiwan.

The export orders were at $56.40 billion for April 2025, marking a rise of 19.8 per cent on year on year basis. Exports out shadowed MOEA's forecast of $50 billion to $52 billion. This marks the third consecutive month of annual growth.

According to MOEA data, the total value of export orders for the first four months of 2025 reached $205.87 billion, a robust 14.1 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

Huang Yu-ling, director of MOEA Department of Statistics attributed this rise to growing global investment in AI, high-performance computing, and cloud services.

He also added that the 90-day suspension of reciprocal tariffs by the Donald Trump administration of the United States on April 9 prompted some buyers to place orders ahead of schedule.

The electronics sector emerged as the primary driving force behind this growth, with April orders reaching $23.09 billion, a substantial 35 per cent increase year-on-year. This surge was fuelled by strong global demand for advanced semiconductors and printed circuit boards (PCBs).

Regionally, the United States stood out as Taiwan's top customer in April, placing $19.29 billion in orders, marking a significant 30.3 per cent increase, primarily for electronics. China and Hong Kong followed, with combined orders of $11.30 billion, representing a 5.7 per cent increase.

Looking ahead, Huang anticipates that strong demand related to AI will continue to benefit Taiwan's technology exporters. Nevertheless, she cautioned about potential risks to global economic growth stemming from geopolitical tensions and U.S. trade policy.

The MOEA has forecasted May export orders to fall within the range of $55 billion to $57 billion, indicating an expected year-on-year increase of 12.5 to 16.6 percent.

Published on May 21, 2025