“The performance marked the second-highest production value of the manufacturing sector since we started compiling the data in 1953,” Department of Statistics Deputy Director-General Wang Shu-chuan (王淑娟) said by telephone. The record high was in 2011, when the manufacturing sector reached NT$14.66 trillion in production value, department data showed. Robust demand for chips used in smartphones, automotive electronics, graphics processing units and high-performance computers drove semiconductor output, she said. Last quarter, the production value of flat panels contracted by 5.63 percent annually, ending three quarters of annual expansion, she said. The overall production value of the manufacturing sector last quarter rose 4.06 percent annually to NT$3.39 trillion, ministry data showed.

Source: Taipei Times February 27, 2018 16:02 UTC