Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2674 actions· ✨ 91 recent

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed the Artificial Intelligence Basic Act (人工智慧基本法) on third reading on 23 December 2025, and President Lai Ching-te promulgated the 20-article statute on 14 January 2026, bringing it into force immediately. The Act designates the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) as the central AI-policy competent authority and codifies seven governance principles — sustainability and well-being, human autonomy, privacy protection and data governance, cybersecurity and safety, transparency and explainability, fairness and non-discrimination, and accountability — that apply to all public-sector AI procurement and high-risk sectoral applications. The statute establishes a statutory foundation for the Taiwan AI Action Plan 2.0, mandates an Executive Yuan National AI Strategy Committee, and provides authority for sector-specific implementing regulations by FSC, NCC, MOHW, and MOTC across finance, telecoms, medical, and autonomous-vehicle AI within a two-year window. As the first national AI governance statute in the Greater China region and the third globally after the EU AI Act and South Korea's AI Basic Act, it frames regulatory expectations for the companies at the heart of the global AI hardware supply chain — TSMC, NVIDIA ODM partners, and advanced-packaging incumbents — that are headquartered or operate substantially in Taiwan.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) board approved a second contract amendment with Foxconn (Hon Hai Technology Group) on 25 November 2025, authorising up to USD 16 million in additional performance-based tax credits under the state's Electronics, Information Technology, and Manufacturing Zone (EITMZ) programme. The amendment backs a further USD 569 million expansion of Foxconn's Mount Pleasant, Racine County operations, projected to create 1,374 new jobs over four years. It raises Foxconn's cumulative EITMZ credit ceiling to USD 96 million (through 31 December 2029) against a cumulative committed investment of USD 1.2 billion and 2,616 jobs -- up from the 2021 amendment's USD 80 million ceiling tied to a USD 672 million investment and 1,454 jobs by end-2025.

Germany's transposition of EU Directive 2022/2555 (NIS2), enacted as the "Gesetz zur Umsetzung der NIS-2-Richtlinie und zur Regelung wesentlicher Grundzüge des Informationssicherheitsmanagements in der Bundesverwaltung." Bundestag passage 13 November 2025; Bundesrat approval 21 November 2025; published as BGBl. I 2025 Nr. 301 on 5 December 2025; entered into force 6 December 2025. The statute designates the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI) as the central national supervisory authority over an estimated 29,500 covered entities across 18 critical and important sectors, introduces a mandatory 24h initial / 72h detailed / 1-month final cyber-incident reporting cascade, establishes board-level personal liability for senior management, and applies to SME critical- infrastructure suppliers — with no transitional grace period from entry into force.

On 23 July 2025, the Quang Binh Branch of the Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) signed an investment credit loan agreement with Hon La Port Joint Stock Company for VND 818.651 billion (~USD 31.2 million), financing part of the VND 2,299 billion Hon La International General Port Project in Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh Province. The loan carries a 20-year term and finances a two-phase, 39.22-hectare port development with four berths for vessels up to 70,000 DWT, intended to serve the Hon La Economic Zone and regional transshipment needs.

The Union Cabinet approved the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) on 28 March 2025, notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) via Gazette Notification CG-DL-E-08042025-262341 on 8 April 2025. The scheme has an original outlay of Rs 22,919 crore (~USD 2.7bn) over six years (FY26-FY31, with an optional one-year gestation period), raised to Rs 40,000 crore in the Union Budget 2026-27. ECMS targets passive components, multi-layer PCBs, lithium-ion battery cells, camera modules, display assembly, electromechanicals, bare-component sub-assemblies and capital equipment for semiconductor and electronics manufacturing -- the ecosystem feeding the existing large-scale-electronics PLI and the India Semiconductor Mission. The scheme targets investment of Rs 59,350 crore, production of Rs 4,56,500 crore and 91,600 direct jobs.