Growing like ‘gangbusters’: Can Taiwan maintain its economic momentum?

A Pacific island has become one of the biggest economic success stories of the year so far.Taiwan has witnessed a dramatic boom in recent months driven by the mania for artificial intelligence (AI). Earlier this year, its stock exchange soared to become the fifth largest in the world based on market capitalisation, the value of its publicly traded shares, overtaking the United Kingdom, Canada and India.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3China slaps export controls on dozens of Japanese entitieslist 2 of 3China puts the ‘squeeze’ on Taiwan with new maritime patrolslist 3 of 3Typhoon Noul makes landfall in China, with hundreds of thousands evacuatedend of listMuch of that upward momentum has been driven by AI and other technology exports highly sought after by the United States.Last year, the US imported $201bn worth of goods from Taiwan, nearly double its rate from 2024, when it acquired $116bn in imports. In May, Taiwan eclipsed China to become the third-largest source of US imports, after Mexico and Canada.Experts have described Taiwan’s market acceleration as a return to its status as a “tiger economy” — a term used to capture surging growth in East Asia. Much of the c...