U.S.-China. Trade War is Good for Taiwan's Tech Factories

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Taiwan's industrial factories are on a tear, according to a report from Bloomberg, as a result of the trade war between the United States and China. This is due, according to the publication, to increased orders from the United States and a growing demand for 5G smartphones. In a trade war between the U.S. and China, Taiwan is getting the spoils.

In July, production rose 3 percent, which Taiwan economics ministry deputy statistics head Wang Shu-chuan said is due mainly to components and computers being produced more domestically and getting bigger orders from the U.S.

The ministry said output "represented a record high for the month of July," Bloomberg reports. 

This news comes the same day as the Chinese government announced that it will impose 5 or 10% tariffs on $75 billion of goods from the United States on Sept. 1 and Dec. 15, the same days U.S. tariffs will be put in place by President Donald Trump's administration.

Andrew E. Freedman

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and Mastodon @FreedmanAE.mastodon.social.

  • Ninjawithagun
    Those who are not familiar with the business of world trade really don't understand that this kind of trade war between the US and China won't be a short one. The goal is not necessarily for one side or the other to 'win'. Ultimately, it's about fair trade. One side having a huge advantage over the other, as in this case with Chinese tariffs on US goods sold in China and in the US vs. US goods that are sold in China, is a huge problem and causes a significant imbalance to the US economy. It has only gotten worse over time and has never been addressed and that 'trade ball' continued to get kicked down the road for another US presidency administration to worry about it. The fact that President Trump is the one who decided to actually take action is just one more thing you can choose to love or hate about him. I try to remain neutral in this particular subject as ultimately I would like to see fair trade with both China and the US being winners.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    I was looking up the US's GDP for other reasons, but the chart that came up also showed China's GDP growth over the last 30ish years. It was eye opening.

    When Bush 1 took office in 1989, China's GDP was $347.8 Billion
    When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, China's GDP was $444.7 Billion
    Bush 2 in 2000: $1.21 Trillion
    Obama in 2008 was after things started taking off: $4.6 trillion
    In 2017, China's GDP was $12.24 Trillion, or an increase of $11,795 Billion (2650%) over 25 years.
    In 2018 it was $13.4 Trillion: an increase on $1.2 Trillion over 1 year. They grew their economy In one year, by as much money than the entire country's economic output was worth 2.25 presidents ago.
    In 2019 their estimated GDP is $14.2 Trillion: An increase of more than their pre-Bush 1 GDP combined with their pre-Clinton GDP

    So.. What's up with that?

    Also, what's the deal with Taiwan? I'm looking for their GDP, but stuff is pointing to them being, well, also China.
    Reply
  • chickenballs
    The commie regime shouldn't have been allowed into the WTO in the first place.
    I guess few people know the fact that the official name of Taiwan is actually the Republic of China and the fact that it's a democratic country that actually respect basic human rights.
    Reply