Science and technology factories and large-scale public construction are expected to become important supports for the construction industry in the next six months.
In August 2026, the business climate test point of the construction industry ended its four consecutive months of increases and turned to decline, mainly affected by the obvious weakening of the real estate industry boom. However, the performance of the construction industry is relatively stable, benefiting from the completion and handover of pre-sale construction projects, as well as the commercial and public office buildings, social housing and high-tech factory projects entering the construction stage. The prosperity of the construction industry in August can be regarded as stable. Looking forward to the next six months, it is expected to gradually grow under the support of technology factories, large-scale public construction and rail projects.
Liu Peizhen, director of the Industrial and Economic Database of the Taiwan Economic Research Institute, pointed out that since 2026, some construction companies have been affected by factors such as policies, full completion methods, and construction project scales, and the recognition of construction revenue has been delayed. At the same time, they still face challenges such as increased earthwork processing costs, shortages of technical manpower, and higher quotations for plasticizing-related materials.
However, as its pre-sale construction projects have been completed and handed over and revenue has been recognized, and some existing commercial, public office, social housing and high-tech industry factory expansion projects have entered a large-scale construction stage, the progress of related projects has continued to advance, which has also contributed to the steady growth of the revenue scale of major construction companies in August, so the overall construction industry boom has remained stable.
Looking forward to the next six months, Liu Peizhen analyzed that the construction industry still faces pressures such as the cost of building materials and the housing market's tendency to be conservative in project promotion. Due to repeated breakdowns in negotiations between the United States and Iran, the situation in the Middle East region is still highly uncertain. It is difficult for the costs of steel bars, asphalt concrete and other building materials to quickly return to pre-conflict levels in the short term. In addition, construction earthwork processing fees across Taiwan are still at a high level, and the cost pressure on the construction industry has not yet been completely relieved.
On the other hand, the domestic real estate market continues to be sluggish, and some real estate developers are still adopting a wait-and-see attitude towards subsequent projects. Liu Peizhen said that construction projects that have obtained construction licenses may wait until the market shows signs of recovery before starting construction. This will affect the new business volume of residential construction projects.
However, technology factories and large-scale public construction are expected to become important supports for the construction industry in the next six months. Since 2026, domestic AI supply chain players have continued to expand investment, and have successively released electromechanical turnkey projects for the main system of clean rooms and existing factory building renovation projects, pushing up the level of ongoing construction projects by relevant construction companies.
In terms of public construction, the government continues to plan new construction projects of connecting roads and interchanges in conjunction with the development of industrial parks. As relevant projects gradually complete the main body and detailed design and officially start construction, the scale of public sector projects is also expected to increase.
In addition, starting from the fourth quarter of 2026, major domestic rail construction projects are expected to continue to advance in the north, central and south. Related electromechanical systems and civil engineering turnkey projects have successively completed bid awards and entered the preliminary construction stage, which will bring new engineering needs to the construction industry.
Overall, in the short term, the construction industry will still have to face pressures such as a decrease in residential housing projects and high costs of building materials and earthwork. However, with the expansion of AI industry, technology factory offices, public construction and rail projects, it is expected that the construction industry will continue to be optimistic about growth in the next six months.
