Export Orders Surge for 17th Consecutive Month: June Exceeds $95.2 Billion, Up Nearly 60% Year-on-Year, Hitting Record High; First-Half Total Tops $500 Billion

The Ministry of Economic Affairs' Statistics Division announced today (21) that June's export order value reached $95.26 billion, surpassing initial expectations and setting a new record for the highest monthly figure in history, with a year-on-year increase of 59.4%. This marks 17 consecutive months of positive growth. Cumulative export orders for the first half of the year have exceeded $500 billion, also reaching a record high for the same period.

According to the Ministry, robust demand in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), and cloud services has driven strong order intake for related technology products, serving as the core engine behind the robust growth in overall export orders.

Statistics from the Ministry show that cumulative export orders for the first half of the year totaled $504.10 billion, up 50.9% compared to the same period last year. Among major product categories, electronics and information and communications products performed the strongest. In June, order values reached $40.50 billion and $34.15 billion respectively, with year-on-year growth rates of 79.9% and 81.9%. This surge is attributed to expanding demand for AI and cloud services, which has sustained high momentum in orders for servers, networking equipment, IC manufacturing, and chip distribution.

For traditional goods, orders for machinery, basic metals, chemicals, and plastic and rubber products also showed year-on-year growth in June, benefiting from sustained high demand in AI-related supply chains, along with increased orders for electronic and industrial chemicals and plastic products. Machinery products rose 17.6% year-on-year, basic metal products by 16.5%, while chemicals and plastic and rubber products increased by 3.4% and 1.8% respectively, indicating a broad-based expansion in export momentum.

By major ordering regions, the United States remained the largest source of orders, with June orders totaling $38.66 billion, up 83.6% year-on-year, driven primarily by higher demand for information and communications products and electronics. Mainland China and Hong Kong ranked second with $17.06 billion, up 37.2% year-on-year. Orders from Europe and ASEAN also showed significant growth, increasing 53.9% and 52.3% respectively. The overall overseas production ratio stood at 47.1%, slightly higher than the same month last year, mainly due to increased order values for information and communications products and electronics, which have higher overseas production shares.

Looking ahead, despite ongoing geopolitical risks and international trade policy fluctuations affecting global economic performance, cloud service providers continue to expand capital expenditures, and countries are actively promoting AI infrastructure development. Continued deepening of AI applications is expected to sustain demand for Taiwan's advanced semiconductor processes and server-related supply chains, supporting future order momentum. However, based on surveyed manufacturers' outlook for July orders, the directional index calculated by order value stands at 48.7, suggesting that overall export order value in July is expected to decline slightly compared to June.