Taiwan Positions Itself as Indispensable to Global AI Supply Chain at Computex 2025
Lai Ching-te Opens Computex With Bold AI Pitch to Global Tech Giants
Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te declared his country indispensable to the global artificial intelligence supply chain on Tuesday, using the opening of Computex Taipei to court international investment and signal political stability across the Taiwan Strait.
Speaking before an audience that included executives from Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Intel, Lai framed Taiwan’s role not merely as a semiconductor manufacturer, but as a foundational partner in the next phase of AI development.
A Trade Show With Strategic Weight
Computex 2025, running through Friday under the theme “AI Together,” spans more than 6,000 booths from 1,500 exhibitors across 33 countries. Over 60,000 visitors have registered to attend — figures that underscore the event’s growing geopolitical as well as commercial significance.
Several global technology companies used the platform to announce continued investment in Taiwan, a signal Lai seized upon as validation of the island’s industrial and democratic credentials.
“The more the world needs AI, the more it needs a stable, trustworthy and responsible Taiwan,” Lai said.
Investment Incentives and Infrastructure Commitments
Lai outlined a suite of government measures designed to sustain Taiwan’s competitive position in AI infrastructure. These include tax incentives, an improved investment environment, and a chip-based innovation programme targeting next-generation technological advances.
He also addressed a concern that has shadowed Taiwan’s AI ambitions: electricity supply. Lai assured attendees that power supply would remain sufficient through 2032 despite surging demand from data centres and semiconductor fabrication, and committed to a second phase of energy transformation to guarantee long-term stability.
Beyond power, the government pledged adequate water, land, and talent resources to meet rapidly growing demand for AI infrastructure, computing capacity, and semiconductors.
Geopolitics Embedded in the Tech Pitch
Lai did not sidestep the cross-strait dimension. He described Taiwan’s commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as “the most responsible commitment to the global supply chain” — language calibrated to reassure partners increasingly anxious about supply chain concentration in a geopolitically contested region.
“When AI development enters its next stage, it will require collaboration among like-minded and reliable partners around the world,” he added.
The remarks position Taiwan’s democratic identity not as a peripheral detail, but as a core element of its value proposition to global technology firms navigating an era of intensifying US-China competition.
