On August 21, a delegation from the 2025 US and Canada Visitor Leadership Program (USCVLP) visited the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) for an exchange on Taiwan’s challenges in the fields of semiconductors, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) supply chains, energy security, and information warfare.
During their visit to Taiwan, the delegation also met with the National Development Council, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Kaohsiung City Government, Taiwan External Trade Development Council, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park, Kaohsiung Asia’s New Bay Area Innovation Park, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan, as well as participated in a roundtable with the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association. Delegates expressed their hopes to deepen trilateral cooperation among Taiwan, the United States, and Canada in areas such as artificial intelligence, advanced technology, energy, talent development, education, and investment.
DSET CEO Dr. Jeremy Chih-Cheng Chang welcomed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ flagship international exchange delegation and emphasized key findings from DSET’s research. He noted that while global attention often centers on advanced semiconductor nodes, legacy chips remain equally critical. Due to U.S. export controls, China has shifted subsidies toward legacy chip manufacturing. Without effective countermeasures, China could surpass Taiwan—the world’s leading producer—in as little as one to two years, creating potential dependency risks for U.S. and allied electronics and weapons systems.
On UAVs, DSET’s National Security Program shared its latest research, underscoring that although Taiwan has fully banned government procurement of Chinese drones and is expanding into U.S. and European markets, greater government procurement support is needed to scale the supply chain. Strengthened U.S.-Taiwan technical cooperation would also be crucial for Taiwanese firms to enter the U.S. federal procurement list. The two sides further discussed the implications of the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which requires a cybersecurity review of Chinese-made UAVs by the end of this year.
On energy security, DSET’s Director of Energy Resilience Program, Dr. Tsai-Ying Lu, highlighted opportunities for Taiwan-U.S. cooperation in emerging technologies. Delegates also suggested that Taiwan deepen subnational industry cooperation with U.S. states. Both sides acknowledged that, given Taiwan’s unofficial ties with most major democracies, U.S. federal funding often cannot flow directly to Taiwan. Thus, alternative mechanisms—such as civil society engagement and Track 1.5 initiatives—are needed to build a more sustainable foundation for cooperation.
On information warfare and AI, DSET’s Democratic Governance Program analyzed how China is increasingly deploying generative AI tools through platforms such as TikTok and Xiaohongshu to expand disinformation operations. Taiwan, they warned, faces an even more severe environment than the U.S. DSET stressed the importance of public-private partnerships and “prebunking” strategies, while calling for democratic countries to jointly develop a shared risk assessment framework for Chinese information warfare and AI-enabled manipulation.