Taiwan’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stayed in expansion in October but fell to 62.5%, signaling slower growth amid supply constraints, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) said.
The seasonally adjusted reading was down 0.9 percentage point from 63.4% in September, marking a 13th consecutive month above 50. The National Development Council (NDC) says a PMI above 50 indicates that activity expanded from the previous month.
CIER put the new-orders index at 63.2% and the backlog-of-orders index at 53.9%. The backlog measure showed its slowest expansion since January 2026.
Focus Taiwan reported declines across all five component indexes. It said the new-orders index fell 0.4 percentage point to 63.2%, production declined 0.9 percentage point to 64.7%, and employment decreased 1.3 percentage points to 56.3%. The supplier-delivery-time index dropped 0.2 percentage point to 68.4%, while the inventory index fell 1.4 percentage points to 60.0%.
CIER calculates the manufacturing PMI from those five measures. The headline index, new orders, production and employment are seasonally adjusted; supplier delivery times and inventories are not, because their seasonal patterns are less stable. The component readings remained above 50 despite their monthly declines.
CIER described shortages of materials and longer waits for supplier deliveries. Its customer-inventory measure showed excess stocks for a second consecutive month, while the supplier-delivery-time and raw-material-price indexes were near 70.
All six manufacturing sectors remained in expansion. Electrical and machinery equipment reached 64.5%, its fastest expansion since August 2021. CIER linked demand in that sector to AI data-center construction, power infrastructure upgrades and investment in advanced semiconductor production and packaging. Electronics and optical products posted 60.0%, their weakest expansion since March 2026; CIER said shortages and mismatches between available materials and production needs affected deliveries in that sector.
The six-month outlook index increased 0.3 percentage point to 61.7%, staying above 60 for a 10th consecutive month. CIER said the availability of supplies and manufacturers’ ability to ship orders would affect the sector’s expansion in 2027.
