Taiwan aims to keep chip production humming as Covid spreads

TAIPEI (Bloomberg): Taiwan’s government pledged to try to keep the world supplied with chips even as Covid-19 cases escalate, while anticipating a limited impact from its worst outbreak so far.

If only domestic consumption is hit, and the outbreak ends by June 30, gross domestic product growth may be cut by 0.16 percentage points, National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin said at a briefing in Taipei today. If the outbreak extends into the third quarter, the hit could be 0.53 points. But the economy could still expand over 5% this year, said Kung, whose agency isn’t responsible for assessing GDP.