Taiwan's May Machinery Exports Hit Record High, Boosted by Electronic Equipment

(Central News Agency, Taipei, June 10, by reporter Chung Jung-feng) The Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry (TAMI) announced this afternoon that May machinery exports reached US$3.501 billion, a record high for a single month and the 16th consecutive month of positive growth. Notably, electronic equipment exports in May alone amounted to US$719 million, also a single-month record. Meanwhile, machine tool exports were US$194 million, with export values and key markets gradually turning positive. TAMI anticipates that the machine tool market in the second half of the year will outperform the first half.

Observing the dynamics of Taiwan's machinery industry, TAMI noted that the global economy remains fraught with uncertainty due to the conflict in the Middle East. Although strong demand for semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) servers in Taiwan has spurred rapid growth in electronic and measurement equipment, thereby boosting the overall machinery industry, TAMI points out that Taiwan's machinery is export-oriented, and manufacturers' export orders are still affected by the New Taiwan Dollar exchange rate.

TAMI stated that the industry's transformation and upgrade towards high-value-added and differentiated products will take time. It recommends that the government increase guidance for the machinery industry's transformation and continue to assist businesses in securing overseas orders.

According to data released by TAMI this afternoon, May's machinery export value of US$3.501 billion was a 23.6% increase from April's US$2.832 billion and a 26.2% increase from US$2.774 billion in the same period last year. In New Taiwan Dollar terms, it was approximately NT$110.459 billion, a 28.7% increase year-over-year.

The association's statistics show that from January to May this year, cumulative machinery exports totaled approximately US$14.612 billion, a 19.9% increase from the same period last year. In NTD, the value was about NT$462.132 billion, up 17% year-over-year.

TAMI explained that the May export value of US$3.501 billion surpassed the previous record of US$3.381 billion set in July 2022, marking a new single-month high. Taiwan's machinery exports have seen 16 consecutive months of growth. In the first five months of this year, the industry continued to benefit from strong demand for AI and semiconductors. Electronic equipment exports were particularly outstanding, with a single-month export value of US$719 million in May, setting a new record and accounting for 20.5% of the total machinery exports for the month.

Regarding machine tools, statistics from the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association show that May's machine tool exports were approximately US$194 million, a 29.2% increase from April and a 2.4% increase from the same period in 2025. The cumulative machine tool exports for the first five months of this year were about US$802 million, a decrease of 1.9% compared to the same period in 2025.

TAMI explained that observing the export value and major export markets for machine tools, both are gradually turning positive. It is expected that machine tool exports in the second half of the year will be better than the first half.

Regarding currency exchange factors, TAMI stated that the current NTD exchange rate remains unfavorable for Taiwan's machinery export competitiveness. In particular, the recent larger depreciation of the Japanese and Korean currencies continues to impact the export competitiveness of Taiwanese machinery products.

Looking at Taiwan's top three machinery export markets, statistics show that for the first five months of this year, the top three countries were the United States (26.4% share), mainland China (20.5%), and Singapore (7.7%).