“Taiwan has long been home to many of Apple’s key suppliers,” Eva Dou reports for The Wall Street Journal. “But is the iPhone maker’s business really big enough to move the needle on Taiwan’s economic data?”
“It appears the answer is yes, with economists recently raising their forecasts of Taiwan’s GDP on upbeat sales prospects for Apple’s upcoming new iPhones,” Dou reports. “Credit Suisse revised up its full-year estimate last month to 3.4% from 3.2% partly on iPhone expectations. Taiwan’s Ta Chong Bank did similarly, raising its second quarter GDP forecast to 3.75% from 3% after confirming more Taiwanese companies in the upcoming iPhones’ supply chain.”
“Taiwanese suppliers collectively get around $100 to $150 from Apple for each iPhone or iPad, Randy Abrams, an analyst at Credit Suisse estimates,” Dou reports. “With Apple estimated to sell 179.3 million iPhones this year, according to Credit Suisse, this would translate to $17.9 billion to $26.9 billion in revenue for Taiwan’s firms. While Abrams cautions these are rough estimates, it suggests the scale Apple’s impact on Taiwan’s economy. Taiwan’s 2013 gross national product was $499.8 trillion [sic billion], so this would translate to Apple making up around 3.6% to 5.4% of the country’s GNP, a measure that includes offshore production by Foxconn and other suppliers.”
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MacDailyNews Take: Behold the power of Apple’s iPhone.