Taiwan June export orders miss forecast, China demand weakens

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's export orders rose less than expected in June on weak demand from the island's top trading partner China and for laptops and mobile phones, even as chips saw continued strength from a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

Export orders last month expanded 3.1% from a year earlier to $45.56 billion, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on Monday. That missed by a wide margin the 12.5% gain forecast in a Reuters poll, and marked a pull back from May's 7% expansion.

Orders for goods from Taiwan, home to tech giants such as chip manufacturer TSMC, a major producer of AI chips, are a bellwether of global technology demand.

Taiwan's orders in June for telecommunication products went up 3.6% from the prior year, while electronic products rose 6.3% from a year ago, driven by hot demand for AI and high performance computing, the ministry said.

But overall orders from China grew just 3.5% versus a 10.1% jump in the prior month. Orders from the United States were up 3.7%, a tad higher than a 3.1% gain in May.

China's economy grew much slower than expected in the second quarter as a protracted property downturn and job insecurity knocked the wind out of a fragile recovery.

Taiwan's economy ministry said there was also weak demand last month for laptops and mobile phones.

While chip and computer server demand was "lively" given enthusiasm for AI, other factors clouded the horizon, it added.

"The growth of the global economy will continue to be affected by high interest rates, and risks from U.S.-China trade and geopolitical issues remain, which may inhibit the momentum of global trade growth."

The ministry said it expects export orders in July will come in between a contraction of 2.6% and expansion of 1.6% year-on-year.

Orders from Europe picked up in June, growing 6.3%, after being flat in May.

From Japan, orders slid 9.2% last month, versus a contraction of 15.1% in May.

(Reporting by Emily Chan and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Peter Graff)