A July feature story published on The Wire China, the weekly online news magazine founded by veteran New York Times correspondent David Barboza, hailed the return of a “Taiwan Tiger.” The article, written by Ghost Nation author Chris Horton, featured insights from AmCham Taiwan Chairperson Anita Chen and referenced what many are calling a “golden age” of U.S.-Taiwan economic relations, something underscored in this year’s Taiwan White Paper.
That characterization is backed by abundant data points, not least of which was the US$256 billion in bilateral trade conducted last year, which made Taiwan the United States’ fourth-largest trading partner, and the United States Taiwan’s number-one — surpassing China for the first time in over two decades.
But it speaks to an even greater reality: that Taiwan is experiencing a rare moment of international attention and respect as a powerhouse economy that makes many things the world needs — and not merely as a victim of complicated geopolitics. Coverage of Taiwan in the international press has increasingly demonstrated a greater understanding of Taiwan beyond its relationships with major world powers. More people around the world are now aware of Taiwan’s value to the global economy.
The renewed focus is well deserved. Taiwan is not only responsible for producing the vast majority of the world’s most advanced semiconductors — a topic explored in the Cover Story in this issue — its companies also supply around 70% of the functional fabrics sold to international sports and outdoor brands. Taiwan also makes most of the world’s mid- to high-end bicycles (the island is sometimes referred to as the “Bicycle Kingdom”). And Taiwan’s machine tool and precision machinery industry consistently ranks among the top 10 exporters of these goods.
But where Taiwan is set to next make the biggest impact is in the development and production of trusted AI infrastructure. Taiwan’s advantages in manufacturing tech hardware and a growing expertise in software position it, to quote Anita Chen, as a “full-stack AI partner,” not just for the United States, but also for like-minded countries in Asia and globally.
This ambition is not without its challenges. Taiwan’s businesses face significant shortages of water, electricity, and land, three elements key to the continued success of its all-important chip industry. But perhaps an even bigger issue is talent, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and other companies who are collectively investing hundreds of billions of dollars to expand their operations are also struggling to fill job vacancies.
With the island’s population aging and its birthrate steadily declining, those gaps will need to be filled increasingly with foreign workers. Taiwan’s government has worked over the past decade to attract and retain more overseas talent, launching incentive programs like the Taiwan Employment Gold Card to ease visa and residence requirements and introducing more multilingual services to accommodate a growing international community.
These efforts have elicited meaningful results and contributed to diversifying the talent pool in Taiwan. But in other areas they still fall short, and addressing the island’s demographic challenges will require more than a smoother immigration process. This is a key area where AmCham can help, providing recommendations and guidance on how to make Taiwan’s workforce truly international.
As The Wire China story and other recent coverage of Taiwan demonstrate, the island now has a window of opportunity to better showcase itself as a hub of international business and an excellent place to live and work. It should strike while the iron is hot.
