Economist warns of ‘K’-shaped growth amid AI boomIMBALANCE: ’K’-shaped growth refers to a divergence of performance in different sectors, with some moving higher and some lower, with the graph resembling a ‘K’Staff writer, with CNADespite Taiwan’s per capita GDP forecast to top US$40,000 this year amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, an economist warned of “K”-shaped industrial growth, which would result in low wages in certain domestic demand-oriented industries. Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of National Central University’s Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development, said that Taiwan’s economy is largely driven by exports in the AI era, but the performance has diverged in a “K” shape. As the service sector serves as the largest employer in Taiwan, with the “K”-shaped development continuing, the impact on the sector would run deeper, Wu said. The first priority is to turn the service sector around, he said. Such efforts are needed to support domestic demand-oriented industries to have the entire industrial development tilt toward a balance, Kao said.

Source: Taipei Times January 10, 2026 17:15 UTC