TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s economy expanded 7.96% in Q2, its strongest performance in 16 quarters, fueled by AI demand and pre-tariff stockpiling, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics said Thursday.
The growth was fueled by surging global demand for AI and emerging technologies, which helped push goods exports far beyond expectations, UDN. Businesses also rushed to place advance orders before a looming tariff deadline, boosting inventory levels and investment.
Exports of goods in Q2 jumped 34.06% year-on-year in US dollar terms, or 29.51% in Taiwan dollars. Exports reached NT$153.7 billion (US$5.13 billion), NT$7.6 billion above previous forecasts. After adjusting for ownership and price effects, real exports of goods and services surged 35.10%, up more than six points from the May projection.
Imports rose sharply as well, reflecting strong domestic demand and capital formation. Goods imports climbed 24.54% in dollar terms, while capital equipment purchases soared 55.11%. Agricultural and industrial materials also saw a 20% increase.
Outbound tourism lifted service imports, which contributed to a 31.95% increase in real imports of goods and services, 6.25 percentage points above forecast. Despite the rise in imports, Taiwan’s trade surplus remained robust.
Net external demand contributed 5.77 percentage points to GDP growth, up from the previously forecast 4.83. The strong showing confirms that Taiwan remains a key player in the global tech supply chain, with AI and next-gen hardware powering growth.
