Lai Aims to Transform Taiwan into Leading Asian Hub for Space & Drone Industries

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Insider Brief:

  • In his inaugural speech, the President-elect of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, expressed hopes to make this country an “Asian hub” for space and drone industries.
  • Part of Lai’s ambitious plan for Taiwan includes increasing the scale of technological skills and boosting defense.
  • He said that Taiwan’s semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) expertise is very important to developing advanced space and drone technologies.

 

Taiwan has been making steady progress in its space industry development. However, this effort is very challenging due to its lack of resources and strong international dependence. The country now has its space agency, the National Space Organization (NSPO), and satellites already in orbit. Dreams of a space future have been frustrated by political status and geopolitical tensions with China. In his inaugural speech, the President-elect of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te, expressed that he hopes to make this country an “Asian hub” for space and drone industries. Part of Lai’s ambitious plan for Taiwan includes increasing the scale of technological skills and boosting defense.

“As we meet the global challenges of adopting more and more smart technologies, we in Taiwan, a ‘silicon island,’ must do all we can to expedite Taiwan’s transformation into an ‘AI island’,” Lai — who uses the Western name William — said on Monday.

He said that Taiwan’s semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) expertise is very important to developing advanced space and drone technologies, stating: “Taiwan has already mastered advanced semiconductor manufacturing, and we stand at the center of the AI revolution. We are a key player in supply chains for global democracies.”

“We must adapt AI for industry and step up the pace of AI innovation and applications,” he added, and “must also adapt industry for AI and use AI’s computational power to make our nation, our military, our workforce, and our economy stronger.”

Lai sees the potential of Taiwan in these fields. But at the same time, he does not see the nation without fundamental challenges — “low levels of investments,” and “being too reliant on the long Chinese supply chain.”

If Taiwan can overcome these, it can emerge as one of the top players in the space and drone industries. Lai’s commitment to upgrading Taiwan’s defense capability and securing relations with other like-minded democracies could open up a new avenue for cooperation within the space sector. It must be kept in mind, though, that tensions with China and the island’s political status still remain as outstanding hurdles.

“Our sights are set on making Taiwan the Asian hub of unmanned aerial vehicle supply chains for global democracies and developing the next generation of medium- and low-orbit communications satellites, bringing Taiwan’s space and aerospace industries squarely into the international sphere,” he added.

Lai’s vision reflects Taiwan’s ambition to make greater use of its technology strengths for not only its better economic positioning but also for global economic development and human prosperity. Yet, to make such a vision happen it requires very heavy investment on its part, international cooperation, and resolution of the tangled geopolitical problems facing Taiwan.

Featured image: Credit: TaiwanPlus News

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