Taiwan has raised its economic growth forecasts for the current year, expecting strong global demand for artificial intelligence applications to drive exports to their highest growth rate in five decades.
Taiwan's Statistics Bureau said it now expects the island's economy to grow at a rate of 9.64% of GDP this year, up from its previous forecast of 7.74%.
At the same time, the Statistics Bureau expects exports to grow by 39.77% this year, compared with a previous forecast of 22.22%.
Bloomberg News noted that if exports grow at a rate of 39.7%, it would be the highest export growth rate since 1976. The Statistics Bureau said demand for AI-related components has exceeded expectations.
Taiwan, regarded as a global hub for advanced electronics manufacturing such as semiconductors, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the global AI boom. Its economy grew by 8.7% of GDP last year, one of the highest growth rates in the world.
Statistics Bureau data showed that the Taiwanese economy grew at an annual rate of 14.55% in the first quarter of this year, the highest quarterly growth rate since 1981.
Further underscoring the Taiwanese economy's trajectory of strong growth, Taiwanese technology companies have borrowed around $14.5 billion since the start of this year to finance their expansion and increase production capacity in order to meet the surging demand for AI components.