The increased optimism is underpinned by Taiwan’s roaring exports. Outbound shipments surged some 70% in January, the fastest pace in 16 years. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the main chip supplier to Nvidia Corp. and Apple Inc., has said it plans to boost spending in 2026 and recently reported a 37% jump in January revenue. Those figures come as Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and others step up spending to develop artificial intelligence capabilities.