TAIPEI (Reuters) – Stocks in Taiwanese tech companies that are major suppliers to companies like Apple rose on Monday after the U.S. government granted temporary exclusions from steep tariffs on smartphones, computers and some other electronics imported largely from China.
Shares in Foxconn, Apple’s largest iPhone assembler, gained around 4% in Monday morning trade, with contract laptop maker Quanta up 7% and Inventec – which also makes artificial intelligence servers – rising 4%.
The broad index was up around 1%.
However, shares in TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, slipped into the red having opened up, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would he announcing a tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, though added there would be flexibility on some companies in the sector.
Alex Huang, vice president of Mega International Investment Services, said the market on Monday morning was reacting to Trump’s exemption announcement, but the reaction may be too early as details are still to come out.
“It’s impossible that semiconductors will be exempt from the tariffs, as that would eliminate the need for any bargaining chips in talks with the United States,” he added.
TSMC is due to report first-quarter earnings on Thursday.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Emily Chan; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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