Taiwan June exports tops forecasts on AI demand, U.S. market soars

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's exports rose more than expected in June, with the island benefiting from its position as a key link in the supply chain of the booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry though also coming off from a low base period.

Exports rose 23.5% from a year earlier to $39.9 billion, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.

Taiwan's export recovery continued with its eighth consecutive monthly rise, and exceeded the 11.45% forecast in a Reuters poll, while beating a 3.5% gain in May.

The robust performance was thanks to "strong business opportunities in new technology applications" such as AI and high performance computing, the ministry said in a statement.

The second half of the year should see a continued uptrend in export momentum as exports enter their peak season, owing to the island's advanced chip production capacity, it added.

Taiwanese firms such as TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, are major suppliers to Apple, Nvidia and other tech giants.

The ministry predicted that Taiwan's exports in July could rise between 3% and 6% from a year earlier.

Exports to the United States soared 74.2%, compared with a 36.4% surge in May.

Shipments to China - Taiwan's largest trading partner - improved, up 7.3% in June on-year versus the previous month's 5.3% drop.

Taiwan's total shipments of electronic components rose 7.3% in June from a year earlier to $14.58 billion, with semiconductor exports gaining 7.6%.

Taiwan's imports jumped 33.9% to $35.22 billion in June, above economists' forecasts for a 15% gain.

(Reporting by Liang-sa Loh and Faith Hung; Additional reporting by Roger Tung; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Andrew Heavens)