- Taiwan's economic score in May slightly decreased to 39 points (previously 40 points), with the indicator showing a red light for six consecutive months. Key details such as the annual change rate of "customs export value" and "import value of machinery and electrical equipment" expanded to 58.8% (previously 36.7%) and 66.7% (previously 39.2%), respectively. This reflects the continuous increase in capital expenditure by global cloud service providers and the extension of AI applications to AI Agents, simultaneously driving the industrial production index and manufacturing sales to maintain an expansion pattern, with annual change rates of 11.4% (previously 14.5%) and 9.3% (previously 10.5%).
- On the domestic demand side, the annual change rate of turnover in wholesale, retail, and catering industries rose to 27.4% (previously 17.4%), mainly driven by strong performance in the wholesale sector due to AI demand, while the annual growth rates for retail and catering were 4.9% (previously 5.2%) and 4.8% (previously 4.5%), respectively, reflecting resilient private consumption.
- In May, Taiwan's economic indicator showed a red light for six consecutive months, with the economic score remaining high at 39 points. Customs exports continued to expand strongly under the global wave of AI computing power construction, stimulating investment momentum in the semiconductor supply chain. Additionally, increased investment from international companies in Taiwan also led to strong expansion in the import of machinery and electrical equipment.
On the domestic demand side, the wholesale sector benefited from AI demand, showing strong performance. In terms of consumption, the stable job market, such as the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate hitting a new low of 3.32% (previously 3.34%), and employment in the service sector reaching a historical high (with an average of 7.12 million people from January to May 2026), along with the wealth effect from a booming stock market, helped maintain the growth rate of retail and catering industries. The recovery in private consumption exceeded expectations, prompting the central bank to raise this year's private consumption growth rate to 3.43% (from 2.46% in March).
Overall, Taiwan's economy remained vibrant in May, with AI driving exports and capital equipment imports. Supported by the wealth effect and a stable job market, domestic consumption maintained an optimistic recovery trend, leading to strong economic growth in Taiwan under the "simultaneous heat from both internal and external" conditions.
Taiwan's economic score in May slightly decreased to 39 points (previously 40 points), with the indicator showing a red light for six consecutive months. Key details such as the annual change rate of "customs export value" and "import value of machinery and electrical equipment" expanded to 58.8% (previously 36.7%) and 66.7% (previously 39.2%), respectively. This reflects the continuous increase in capital expenditure by global cloud service providers and the extension of AI applications to AI Agents, simultaneously driving the industrial production index and manufacturing sales to maintain an expansion pattern, with annual change rates of 11.4% (previously 14.5%) and 9.3% (previously 10.5%). On the domestic demand side, wholesale, retail, and catering
