Taiwan optimistic about 2026 economic growth exceeding 3% on AI boom

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's economy could grow more than 3% next year given demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications continues at a rapid clip, Economic Affairs Minister Kung Ming-hsin said on Thursday, offering a rosier outlook than previous forecasts.

Last month, Taiwan's central bank predicted the economy next year could expand 2.68%, down from an estimated 4.55% for this year, citing the impact of U.S. tariffs on Taiwanese exports, currently set at 20%.

Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Kung said he was "quite optimistic" that growth next year could top 3% given the fast growth of AI.

Taiwan is a major semiconductor producer and home to the world's largest contract chipmaker TSMC, which supplies Nvidia and other companies powering the charge towards AI.

Taiwan's statistics bureau will next week give its preliminary read on third-quarter economic growth, though it will not update its outlook for all of 2025 and 2026 until a few weeks later.

Taiwan remains in talks with the United States to try and get the tariff, which does not apply to semiconductors, reduced.

(Reporting by Jeanny Kao; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

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