(Recasts, adds details) * August export orders +25.7% y/y vs +17% seen in Reuters poll * Ministry sees Oct orders rising between 22.1% and 25% y/y * Ministry warns of uncertainty from China energy curbs TAIPEI, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan’s export orders set a record in September, growing faster than expected on demand for new smartphones and chips and ahead of the year-end holiday shopping season, and the government said the outlook was good, though uncertainty over China’s economy cast a shadow. Taiwan’s export orders, a bellwether of global technology demand, rose 25.7% from a year earlier to $62.9 billion in September, a historic high, data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed on Wednesday. That was the 19th month of expansion, and the pace was much faster than the median forecast of a rise of 17% in a Reuters poll. The ministry said new smartphone launches and demand for new technologies helped sustain export orders, as well as stockpiling for Christmas and New Year holidays. Taiwanese companies such as Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) are major suppliers to Apple Inc, Qualcomm Inc and other global tech firms. Apple unveiled the iPhone 13 and a new iPad mini last month, expanding 5G connectivity and showing off faster chips and sharper cameras without raising the phone’s price. Looking ahead, the ministry warned of uncertainty from China’s energy curbs, which have shuttered factories in parts of the country, and global risk from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the year-end holiday shopping season and demand for 5G and other new technologies will help maintain steady growth for export orders, the ministry added. The ministry’s statistics director Huang Yu-ling said they expected full year export orders to rise more than 20% compared with 2020. In August, export orders jumped 17.6% from a year earlier to $53.5 billion. The ministry said it expects export orders in October to rise between 22.1% and 25% from a year earlier. Orders from the United States rose 29.3% in September from a year earlier, a faster rate of expansion compared with the 19.2% logged in August, while orders from China were up 11.5%, versus a gain of 15.9% the previous month. Orders from Europe leapt 53.1%, while those from Japan were up 2.6%. (Reporting by Roger Tung and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)