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Taipei - Booming shipments of the iPhone 6 helped Taiwan's export orders jump 12.7% in September year-on-year to a record $43.3bn, the government said on Monday.
It marked an eighth straight month of growth in export orders for tech-rich Taiwan, the economic ministry said.
Orders for information and mobile devices rose 16.3% from a year ago to $12.9bn, "mainly due to the launch of international brand name mobile devices that led to the significant increase of orders", the ministry said.
Manufactured chips
Taiwanese giant Hon Hai - the parent company of Foxconn in China and the world's largest computer components manufacturer - assembles products for Apple, as well as Sony and Nokia.
Its revenues surged 22.95% year-on-year in September to $13.66bn.
Media reports say local firms Pegatron Corp worked on the assembly of the new iPhone and TSMC - the world's biggest contract microchip maker - manufactured its chips, although neither company has confirmed the contracts.
The economic ministry also credited rising demand for laptop computers for the boost in orders. Taiwanese firms produce laptops for a range of major brands including HP, Dell and Lenovo, while Acer alone has a 10.8% global market share, according to Taipei-based Digitimes Research.
Electronic products
Export orders - those filed to manufacturers one or two months ahead of delivery - are a key indicator for the island's export-reliant economy.
Orders for electronic products surged 19.4% year-on-year as the increased shipments of mobile devices spurred business for the semiconductor and computer memory storage sectors, the ministry said.
Export orders from the United States hit a record $11.4bn, up 15.5% year-on-year and up 20.6% from the previous month.
Orders from mainland China and Hong Kong, Taiwan's other major overseas markets, rose 8.6% year-on-year to $10.4bn.
Apple launched the iPhone 6 and larger-screen iPhone 6 Plus on 19 September, selling 10 million units in the opening weekend.
