The first quarter economic performance of Taiwan's export-driven market for 2025 is predicted to outpace the last quarter of 2024 resulting in strong technological market demand. The economic perspective remains uncertain because of ongoing U.S. trade restrictions.
The polling data collected from 24 economic experts predicts that Taiwan’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 3.4% annually in the January-March quarter above previous quarter growth of 2.9%.
The export-oriented economy of Taiwan will encounter major difficulties throughout this year because President Donald Trump intends to implement his Tariff plan. The initial 32% Tariff facing Taiwan by Trump received a three-month pause from the United States president during the month of early 2018.
"Exports in the first quarter were not too bad, and shipments are expected to be expedited with the 90-day tariff pause. So, second-quarter exports won't be too weak either and will only be revised down after the third quarter," said Woods Chen, Chief Economist at Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting.
The technical supply chain depends heavily on Taiwan as major technology firms including Apple conduct their manufacturing operations within its borders. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) operates as the world’s largest contract chipmaker from Taiwan while producing semiconductors that are essential for AI applications. For the first quarter of this year TSMC reached net profit growth of 60% relative to last year's results while exceeding market predictions.
March export orders from Taiwan failed to reach expectations because of declining Chinese market demand which represents Taiwan's biggest trading relation. The Taiwanese government adjusted its 2025 economic growth prediction to 3.14% during February because of ongoing U.S. trade Tariff issues.