The Ministry of Finance today stated that July exports were 'soaring,' reaching $566.8 billion and setting a new record, mainly due to the expansion of AI business opportunities driving hardware and component upgrades, as well as the timing entering the new product rollout period for technology products, and manufacturers seizing the grace period before the implementation of reciprocal tariffs to accelerate procurement. Among these, exports of information and communication products and electronic components reached record highs and second-highest levels for the month, respectively.

The Ministry of Finance today announced that July exports reached $566.8 billion, setting a new record for the highest single-month exports in history, with a year-on-year increase of 42%, surpassing expectations, and achieving 21 consecutive months of positive growth. After offsetting imports and exports, the trade surplus for July was $143.4 billion, the highest single-month surplus in history. Total exports for the first seven months amounted to $3,399.4 billion, setting a new record for the same period in history, with a year-on-year increase of 28.3%.

Chang Mei-na, Director of the Statistics Division of the Ministry of Finance, said that July exports were 'soaring,' and marked the third consecutive month of setting a new single-month high, with the year-on-year growth rate being the largest increase in 15 years since June 1999. This mainly reflects three major factors.

She analyzed that first, the expansion of business opportunities in high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) has also driven the upgrading or high-endization of related hardware equipment and components; second, international brand mobile devices and technology products have entered the new product rollout period; third, the U.S. reciprocal tariffs were not finalized until early August, so some customers still accelerated procurement in July during the final grace period.

Looking at the performance of key products, Chang Mei-na pointed out that among the 11 major categories of goods, July showed '9 up, 2 down,' with basic metals and their products, as well as plastics and rubber and their products, performing the weakest. This was mainly influenced by factors such as the overall global overcapacity pressure, with July exports declining by 1.8% and 4.6%, respectively.

Chang Mei-na said that exports of information and communication products and audio-visual products reached $242.3 billion in July, setting a new record for the highest single-month exports in history, with a year-on-year increase of 87.1%. Among these, computer peripherals increased by 5.3 times, and shipments of servers and graphics cards remained active. Exports of information and communication products for the first seven months reached $1,261.4 billion, only $64 billion less than the total for last year. That means August will be able to break the historical annual record ahead of time.

Chang Mei-na pointed out that exports of electronic components in July were driven by strong demand for advanced process chips, reaching $184.2 billion in July, setting the second-highest single-month record in history, with a year-on-year increase of 34.1%, the best performance in nearly 40 months.

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She further stated that the combined amount of electronic components, information and communication products, and audio-visual products reached $426.5 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 59.8%, accounting for as high as 75.2% of total exports. These two indicators have reached the highest single-month levels in history; in contrast, the share of other goods has dropped to a new low of 24.8%.

Additionally, Chang Mei-na said that imports in July reached $423.4 billion, the second-highest single-month level in history, with a year-on-year increase of 20.8%. This not only reflects the international division of labor structure in the technology industry chain but also indicates the inventory demand driven by the AI boom and the upcoming export season. At the same time, domestic manufacturers still have strong procurement momentum for semiconductor equipment.