Taiwan's exports reached a record US$87.22 billion in September, up 60.9% from a year earlier, as global spending on AI hardware lifted shipments of servers, graphics cards and chips, Focus Taiwan reported Thursday, citing the Ministry of Finance. It was the 35th consecutive month of year-over-year export growth, the longest such streak on record.

What Happened

Information, communications and audio-video products, the category that includes servers, graphics cards and storage, brought in US$39.13 billion, nearly double the level a year earlier. The Taipei Times reported that graphics cards, servers, storage devices, switches and routers all grew by more than 100%. Electronic components, which include chips, rose 45.3% to US$31.13 billion.

Imports climbed 51.7% to a record US$63.59 billion, leaving a monthly trade surplus of US$23.63 billion, also a record and up 92.2% from a year earlier. The growth streak surpassed the previous record of 34 months, set between 1985 and 1988.

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Third-quarter exports rose 44.6% to US$244.92 billion, the Taipei Times reported. For January through September, exports totaled US$661.55 billion, up 46.2%, and imports reached US$501 billion, up 41.3%, for a cumulative surplus of US$160.55 billion. The nine-month export figure already exceeds the US$640.69 billion Taiwan shipped in all of 2025.

Why It Matters

Taiwan assembles a large share of the world's AI servers and its foundries make most leading-edge chips, so its monthly trade data offers an early, hard-number read on the AI infrastructure buildout. September's figures point to that spending accelerating rather than leveling off.

The destination data shows where the hardware is going. Shipments to the U.S. more than doubled and exports to Southeast Asia rose 93.4%, and those two markets accounted for about 70% of the growth, according to the Taipei Times. China including Hong Kong, Europe and Japan also posted double-digit gains.

Beatrice Tsai, director-general of the finance ministry's Department of Statistics, credited robust global investment in technology and AI, which she said helped offset concerns about geopolitics and inflation. She also pointed to strong demand for advanced electronic components, tight supply chains that kept prices high and inventory building ahead of new consumer electronics launches.

Context

The trade data landed the same day TSMC reported September revenue of NT$511.86 billion, up 54.6% from a year earlier, as The Primary Wire reported. Together the figures show both the chips and the finished servers built around them leaving Taiwan at a rapid clip.

What to Watch

The ministry forecasts October exports of US$85.2 billion to US$87.7 billion, a 40% to 44% increase from a year earlier, and expects full-year exports to exceed US$900 billion. The ministry typically releases October figures in early November. Officials named global trade policy shifts and geopolitical tensions as the main risks, a concern sharpened by how heavily the growth depends on shipments to the U.S.