The US-China trade war has impacted all industries worldwide and it has also encouraged the transferring of orders. As indicated by the Department of Statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the "computer electronics and optics industry" is the industry in Mainland China that is most affected by the US-China trade war. Of the 301 Entity List, some of the product orders are transferred to Taiwan while encouraging the exports in the "computer electronics and optics industry" in the first half of this year, resulting in the increase of exports to the United States by 90%.

 

    Since MOEA released the report on the current economic situation, the Department of Statistics stated that the three major industries, namely the "computer electronics and optics industry", "electric equipment and equipment industry", and "mechanical equipment industry" should contribute to 90% of the growth in exports to the US in the first half of 2019. Among these industries, the contribution from computer electronic and optical products with the order transfer results and the relocation of production lines have reached as high as 82%, a figure that is considered the highest. However, Taiwan’s exports in the first half of 2019 are still down by 3.4% for the year-on-year growth rate with the restructuring of the global supply chain in comparison to 3.8% for Japan, 7.2% for South Korea, and 9.5% for Singapore. 

 

    The Statistics Department also pointed out that the "computer electronics and optics industry" is the industry that is most affected by the US-China trade war and it is also the industry perceived with the fastest and observable relocation of product lines and order transfers. Commencing from the second half of last year, the output value of Taiwan has begun to rise, while the output value has increased as high as 16.5% in terms of US dollars from the first half of this year. Among these, the orders with Netcom equipment from the United States increased significantly, with an annual growth rate reaching 45.8%. On the other hand, since the production line for servers was moved back to Taiwan, the annual growth has increased by 4 times. As a whole, the annual increase in exports to the United States has increased by 90.1%, with an increase of US$2.67 billion.

 

  Moreover, as for the Taiwanese businessmen who have returned to Taiwan due to the US-China trade war, 84 manufacturers are cleared for qualification screenings by the 4th of July and it is estimated that the number of total investments should reach more than NT$434.6 billion. These investments include investments in the electronic component industry that should expand the most by totaling NT$15.79 billion and account for 6.3 percent of the total investments. The remaining investments are expected to be found in the computer electronic products and optical products industry, power equipment and equipment industry, machinery and equipment industry, and others, which is similar to those industries from the mainland that were impacted by the 301 Entity List. (News source: United Daily News).