Taiwan enters mid-2026 with unusually strong growth momentum, driven by AI-related exports, semiconductors, and high-performance computing. But beneath the record headline numbers, uneven domestic recovery, energy risks, and geopolitical uncertainty are testing how durable that momentum can be.
Taiwan’s push to scale AI is running headlong into energy constraints, exposing the limits of its current infrastructure, policy alignment, and geopolitical vulnerabilities. As demand surges, the real challenge is not just building AI capacity, but securing the power and strategy to sustain it.
Taiwan is framing trade talks with the United States as a pathway to deeper high-tech partnership, focusing on supply-chain resilience, economic security, and long-term industrial cooperation beyond tariffs.
Chip manufacturers will need to navigate new export controls by the United States and decreased global demand for semiconductors in 2023. In early October, the U.S. announced a sweeping set of export controls that in effect cut China off from advanced semiconductors made with American technology. The move aims to slow Beijing’s technological and military…
