Taiwan machine-tool September YoY exports slip even as revenue jumps
The September revenue numbers were a departure from the trend over the first eight months of 2026.
An AsiaTech analysis of monthly revenue filings on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and Taipei Exchange found that seven of the eight listed Taiwan machine-tool builders we checked took in 28% to 267% more in September than a year earlier. But Taiwan's machine-tool exports fell 1.8% last month, to US$167 million, according to figures from the Taiwan Machine Tool & Accessory Builders' Association (TMBA) (台灣工具機暨零組件工業同業公會) reported by the Central News Agency (中央社).
Combined, the eight listed builders we checked booked NT$2.63 billion (about US$81 million) in September revenue, 65.7% more than a year earlier. The September numbers were a departure from the trend over the first eight months of 2026. From January through August, the eight builders' combined revenue was just 1.1% higher than a year earlier, by our calculation, and at Awea (亞崴機電), Tongtai Machine & Tool (東台精機), Goodway (程泰機械) and Seyi (協易機械), it ranged from 10% lower to 5.5% higher.
Part of September's jump was timing. Revenue fell in August at Awea and Goodway, and Awea said higher ocean freight rates, typhoons and Ghost Month (the lunar seventh month, when many in Taiwan avoid big purchases) had pushed shipments into September. Tongtai, whose September revenue rose 81%, says orders have picked up this year.
The steadier growth this year has been at a separate group of companies: the suppliers that make the parts and controls that go into the machines. TMBA says component exports rose 13.1% from January through September, while machine-tool exports fell 1.9% in the first 9 months.
Taiwan's motion-control parts makers have grown strongly too. Syntec Technology (新代科技), a Hsinchu maker of controllers for computer numerical control (CNC) machines, more than doubled its revenue for the first nine months of the year, to NT$20.9 billion (about US$647 million). Syntec estimates it held about 23% of mainland China's controller market in 2025 and expects to pass 25% this year, Business Next reported (數位時代). Supply problems at big Japanese makers gave Syntec an opening in China, the magazine said.
Sources: 臺灣證券交易所 TWSE (monthly revenue data, September 2026), 臺灣證券交易所 TWSE (monthly revenue data, August 2026), 櫃買中心 TPEx (monthly revenue data, September 2026), 櫃買中心 TPEx (monthly revenue data, August 2026), 中央社 CNA, 數位時代 Business Next, 新代科技 Syntec Technology (investor conference deck), 臺灣證券交易所 TWSE (listed company list), 櫃買中心 TPEx (listed company list)
Editor: Ian Lamont
