AI Boom Keeps Taiwan’s June PMI Expanding, Lifts Export Outlook

Taiwan’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, compiled by the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, is a closely watched gauge of new orders, production and supply-chain conditions. Robust demand for AI servers and related components has strengthened the export outlook, raising expectations that the value of outbound shipments could exceed $1 trillion this year if the technology investment boom persists.

CIER said the manufacturing PMI remained in expansion territory in June for a ninth consecutive month. The institute cautioned, however, that surging AI orders were crowding out capacity for non-AI products and pushing up raw-material costs. Manufacturers should monitor the risk of “AI inflation” spreading through supply chains and eventually lifting prices for finished products.