The industrial and manufacturing production index hit a record high in August, growing for 30 consecutive months.

The Statistics Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced today (23rd) that the industrial production index in August was 145.97, an annual increase of 23.47%, and the manufacturing production index was 148.42, an annual increase of 24.61%. The two indexes hit a new monthly high in previous years, and also set new highs for four consecutive months, and recorded positive growth for 30 consecutive months.

This is mainly due to the strong demand for artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and cloud data services, coupled with the momentum of new consumer electronics product stocking, which has driven the production momentum of the information electronics industry to continue to strengthen, and some traditional industries have simultaneously benefited from the spillover demand from the information electronics industry and increased production.

In the information electronics industry, the electronic components industry grew by 21.68% annually, mainly due to the booming demand for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. As new consumer electronics products start the stocking cycle, it drives the production growth of 12-inch wafer foundry, dynamic random access memory, IC packaging and testing, IC design and other products; the cumulative annual growth in the first eight months of this year is 20.91%.

The optical products industry has an annual growth rate of 95.72%, mainly due to the accelerated deployment of AI infrastructure and the continued strong demand for semiconductor equipment construction, which has driven an increase in the production of servers, switches, semiconductor testing equipment and components, automatic test equipment, solid-state drives and other products; the cumulative annual growth in the first eight months of this year is 84.57%.

In terms of traditional industries, the machinery and equipment industry grew by 18.65% year-on-year, mainly because semiconductor manufacturers continued to deploy advanced processes and high-end packaging and testing production capacity, which led to an increase in the output of electronic and semiconductor production equipment and components, mechanical transmission equipment and components, and increased production due to the return of orders for machine tools; the cumulative annual growth in the first eight months of this year was 12.74%.

The chemical materials and fertilizer industry and the basic metal industry also benefited from the spillover demand from the AI ​​supply chain. However, due to the slow recovery of the market, manufacturers adjusted production cuts for some products, with an annual decrease of 5.81% and a slight decrease of 0.36% respectively. In the first eight months of this year, the annual decrease was 7.03% and the annual increase was 3.63%.

The automobile and parts industry decreased by 4.23% year-on-year, mainly because car manufacturers adjusted production lines according to market conditions, resulting in reduced production of fuel-powered small cars, some auto parts, minivans, and passenger and cargo vehicles. However, benefiting from the launch of new cars and the increase in overseas orders, increased production of electric cars and lights offset part of the decrease. The cumulative annual decrease in the first eight months of this year was 2.07%.

The cumulative industrial production index in the first eight months of this year was 132.24, an annual increase of 20.8%; the manufacturing production index was 134.6, an annual increase of 22.14%.