Taiwan’s “total exports expanded by 58.9% year on year to US$96.76 billion” in October 2026, the Ministry of Finance said in its trade release on 9 November. Reuters headlined the release as “Taiwan’s October exports surge again on strong AI demand”.
October is the largest monthly total in the ministry’s monthly table, which runs from January 2001, and the third month in a row to set a new high, by our check of that table. Exports of information, communication and audio-video products grew 72.9% to US$47.6 billion.
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The key insight: Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance reported October exports of US$96.76 billion, up 58.9% from a year earlier; information, communication and audio-video products grew 72.9% and, with parts of electronic product, made up 83.0% of exports, by our arithmetic. By our check of the ministry’s monthly table, October is the third straight month to set a new high.
The ministry put October imports at US$68.89 billion, up 75.1%, and the trade surplus at US$27.88 billion. Exports for January to October totalled US$758.29 billion, up 47.7% from a year earlier.
By product, the release says exports of information, communication and audio-video products, parts of electronic product, machinery, base metals and chemicals “grew by 72.9%, 61.4%, 35.5%, 35.7%, and 23.7%, respectively”. Information, communication and audio-video products were 49.2% of all October exports and parts of electronic product were 33.8%.
Together the two categories made up 83.0% of October exports, by our arithmetic. The information, communication and audio-video share was 4.5 points higher than its 44.7% share for January to October, also by our arithmetic.
Taiwan’s total monthly exports, October 2025 to October 2026, from the Ministry of Finance’s Table 7. August is revised and September and October are preliminary. The record check across the table from January 2001 is ours.
Where the Exports Went
Exports to the U.S.A. were US$32.93 billion, 34.0% of the total, up 55.9%. Exports to ASEAN grew 83.8% to US$18.46 billion, and exports to Mainland China and Hong Kong grew 42.9% to US$20.44 billion. The U.S.A. and ASEAN together took 53.1% of October exports, by our arithmetic.
Imports of electronic parts and of information, communication and audio-video products also rose, by 109.3% and 126.4%. The release does not say how much of either is tied to servers.
Three Records in a Row
The ministry’s monthly table puts August at US$82.38 billion (revised), September at US$87.22 billion and October at US$96.76 billion (both preliminary). Each was the largest monthly total in the table when it was reported, by our check. October was 10.9% above September, by our arithmetic.
As we read the ministry’s tables, the October total rests on two categories: information, communication and audio-video products at 49.2% of exports and parts of electronic product at 33.8%. Machinery, base metals and chemicals together were 7.8%, by our arithmetic.
As we read the destination table, the U.S.A. and ASEAN took 53.1% of October exports, by our arithmetic, while exports to Mainland China and Hong Kong grew more slowly than the total, at 42.9% against 58.9%.
Taiwan Ministry of Finance, 9 November 2026
“For Oct. 2026, total exports expanded by 58.9% year on year to US$96.76 billion”
Three Implications
FOR AI HARDWARE SUPPLY The ministry lists information, communication and audio-video exports at US$47.6 billion in October, up 72.9%; it does not break out servers.
FOR THE RECORD RUN August, September and October each set a new monthly high by our check; September and October are preliminary and can be revised.
NEXT DATA POINT The ministry’s next trade release is due on 9 December.
The framework says: “You cannot ship silicon without foundries.”
As we read it, Taiwan’s trade release is a monthly reading of that physical base: in October, information, communication and audio-video products and parts of electronic product were 83.0% of the island’s exports, by our arithmetic.
What Is Not Established
The release does not break out servers or AI products as a separate line, so the AI share of the growth is not stated. The August, September and October figures are revised or preliminary and can change. We read Reuters’ headline only, not its article. The ministry’s next release is due on 9 December.
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Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance reported October exports of US$96.76 billion, up 58.9% from a year earlier, led by information, communication and audio-video products, which grew 72.9%. By our check of the ministry’s table, it is the third straight month to set a new monthly high.
A note on sourcing. All trade figures are from Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance release “Trade Figures for Oct. 2026” and its Table 7, published on 9 November 2026. The record check across the monthly table, the category shares added together, the month-on-month change and the destination share are our arithmetic. The Reuters headline is quoted as published; we did not read the Reuters article.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
