Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2662 actions· ✨ 89 recent

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs established the Quantum Industry Technology Promotion Office (QITPO) on April 27, 2026, as the government's primary vehicle to develop Taiwan's role in the global quantum supply chain beyond its established "Silicon Island" semiconductor position. QITPO is mandated across three axes: supporting Taiwanese manufacturers' technical capabilities in early-stage quantum development ("Quantum Taiwan" initiative); creating a cross-sector exchange platform between industry, academia, and research institutions; and attracting global quantum companies to establish R&D centres in Taiwan. Eighteen Taiwanese companies participated in the launch event.

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.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs International Trade Administration (MOEA-ITA) published a draft amendment to the Strategic High-Tech Commodities (SHTC) export control lists on 18 November 2025, subject to a 60-day public-preview period, adding 18 items in three new categories — advanced 3D printing equipment (metal-powder-bed- fusion, laser-sintering, electron-beam-melting capable systems), advanced semiconductor equipment (CMOS chips, low-temperature cryogenic cooling, scanning electron microscope equipment, cryogenic wafer probers), and quantum computers (general-purpose programmable quantum computing systems). Exporters must obtain MOEA-ITA prior approval before shipment; permits will be issued only after confirming goods will not be used in weapons-of-mass-destruction programmes.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs International Trade Administration (MOEA-ITA) issued a pre-notice (17 November 2025, doc. 經授貿字第 11450120760號) proposing amendments to the "Dual-Use Goods and Technology Export Control List" and the "General Military Goods List" under the Strategic High-Tech Commodities (SHTC) regime, adding or reclassifying items in the basic-inorganic-chemicals, chemical-products, and engines/turbines categories to align with Wassenaar Arrangement list updates. Following the standard 60-day public-comment period, MOEA-ITA published the finalised amendment on 11 February 2026 (doc. 經貿字第 11550200140號), effective immediately, requiring exporters of the newly listed dual-use and military goods to obtain prior export licences regardless of destination.

Taiwan's Executive Yuan on 11 September 2025 passed the special budget "Central Government Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and Livelihood National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances," allocating NT$46 billion (approx. USD 1.5 billion) to the Ministry of Economic Affairs for four industry-support measures aimed at firms hurt by US tariffs. The four measures — preferential export-loan guarantees, SME diversified-development loans, R&D/equipment-transformation subsidies, and overseas-market-expansion subsidies — had already been soft-launched on 7 August 2025 under an emergency "shift funds to urgent need first" principle, with the September budget formalising and funding them. As of the government's mid-October 2025 status update, over 1,200 applications had been received across the four programmes, generating roughly NT$8.9 billion in approved financing.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs International Trade Administration (MOEA-ITA) amended the Strategic High-Tech Commodities (SHTC) export-control Entity List on 10 June 2025 (announced 15 June 2025) under Article 13 of the Trade Act, adding 601 new entities — including Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) plus 599 additional entities domiciled in China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar. Taiwanese exporters (TSMC, UMC, ASE, KYEC and downstream suppliers) must obtain pre-export government licences for direct or third-party shipments of any SHTC-listed item to the listed entities; the action expands Taiwan's total entity-list population to ~10,844 entities. Two follow-on amendments tightened the regime further: a +279-entity expansion on 18 September 2025 and an 18-item commodity-list expansion on 18 November 2025 covering advanced 3D printers, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, electron microscopes and quantum-computing hardware.

The Legislative Yuan of Taiwan (ROC) passed amendments to Article 10-1 of the Statute for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例) on third reading on 18 April 2025, promulgated by Presidential Decree on 7 May 2025 and effective for qualifying expenditures incurred from 1 January 2025. The amendment expands the scope of the existing Article 10-1 investment tax credit — previously covering hardware, software, technology, or technical services for smart machinery, 5G network deployment, and cybersecurity — to additionally cover (i) AI products or services and (ii) energy-conservation and carbon-reduction initiatives. The maximum eligible expenditure cap per company per taxable year is doubled from NT$1bn to NT$2bn, and the implementation period is extended through 31 December 2029. Secondary legislation operationalising the amended categories was jointly issued by MOEA and MOF on 27 November 2025 as the "Regulations Governing Tax Credits Claimed for Investments in Smart Machinery, 5G Networks, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Products or Services, and Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction." This is Taiwan's first AI-and-green-tech investment tax credit mechanism in the general-industrial framework, distinct from Article 10-2 (the chip-specific R&D + advanced-equipment credit, "Taiwan Chips Act").

The Legislative Yuan of Taiwan (ROC) passed amendments to Article 22 of the Statute for Industrial Innovation (產業創新條例) and added a new Article 67-3 on third reading on 18 April 2025, promulgated by Presidential Decree on 7 May 2025. The package establishes for the first time a Taiwanese OUTBOUND-investment screening regime under the Statute: outbound investments by Taiwanese entities meeting the amount threshold (NTD 1.5bn, or lower as determined) OR involving designated countries/regions OR specific industries or technologies must obtain prior approval from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) before implementation. The competent authority may deny approval (in whole or in part) or impose conditional approval where particular circumstances are identified — including risks to national security, harm to economic development or supply-chain resilience, conflict with international treaties, or violation of labour-standards law. The new Article 67-3 establishes enforcement penalties ranging from NTD 50,000 to NTD 1,000,000 for initial non-compliance violations and NTD 500,000 to NTD 10,000,000 per violation for failure to comply with conditions, restrictions, or undertakings imposed by MOEA under Article 22 Paragraph 3. Effective dates of implementing provisions are to be determined by Executive Yuan secondary legislation; the package is structurally novel for Taiwan — the first horizontal outbound-investment-security instrument and the structural parallel to the US Treasury Final Rule on Outbound Investment in Countries of Concern (28 October 2024 / effective 2 January 2025), the EU Commission Recommendation 2025/63, and Korea's MOTIE NCT regime.

The Legislative Yuan of Taiwan (ROC) passed amendments to Articles 10-2 and 72 of the Statute for Industrial Innovation ("產業創新條例") on third reading on 7 January 2023. The amendment, internationally termed the "Taiwan Chips Act," is implemented from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2029. Article 10-2 grants Taiwan-registered companies that occupy key positions in international supply chains a 25% investment tax credit on qualifying forward-looking innovative R&D expenditure (capped at 30% of the year's profit-seeking enterprise income tax payable), plus a 5% credit on the purchase of brand-new machinery or equipment used in own-account advanced manufacturing processes (also capped at 30%). Eligibility thresholds set by the Ministry of Finance require annual R&D spend of at least NT$6bn, R&D intensity (R&D / net operating revenue) of at least 6%, and an effective tax rate of at least 15% (12% for FY2023 only); the 5% equipment credit additionally requires equipment expenditure of at least NT$10bn. The measure is Taiwan's principal supply- side response to the US CHIPS Act, the EU Chips Act, the K-Chips Act, and Japan's METI subsidy programme, and is designed to retain TSMC, MediaTek, and other leading-edge silicon investment onshore as overseas subsidies pull capacity to Arizona, Kumamoto, Dresden, and elsewhere.