Taiwan, U.S. Partner to Strengthen 5G Supply Chain Resilience

The Taiwan Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) under Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs coordinated an exhibit of Taiwanese 5G companies including HTC, QCT, Ufi Space, Lions, Askey, MTI, Lite-On, Compal, Edgecore and TMYTEK at the "5G Open RAN and AIoT Showcase" in the "5G & Smart City Pavilion" at Taiwan Expo USA 2022, held from October 12-14, 2022 in Washington, D.C.

This showcase demonstrates how Taiwan offers great business potential for U.S. companies catering to the needs of both public and private networks in the global marketplace.

Taiwan and U.S. companies collaborate to strengthen 5G supply chain resilience.

Taiwan 5G companies led by the Industrial Development Bureau, MOEA, are visited by the Minister of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, Mei-Hua Wang, former Vice President of Taiwan, Chien-Jen Chen, Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, James Moriarty, and Deputy Director General of Industrial Development Bureau, Pei-Li Chen, at the “5G Open RAN Showcase” at Taiwan Expo USA 2022 in Washington D.C.

Recent trade relations between the U.S. and China have caused disruptions to the global supply chain. Taiwan's crucial position in the global economy has resulted in more attention from the U.S. To promote substantive cooperation, the U.S. Department of Commerce and Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs established the Technology Trade and Investment Collaboration (TTIC) on December 7th, 2021, according to a joint announcement. Through the initial focus areas, including 5G, semiconductors and electric vehicles, U.S. and Taiwanese companies are developing closer partnerships to achieve supplier and supply chain diversity.

Throughout the past year, the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) has liaised with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the U.S. Department of Commerce to promote bilateral cooperation in 5G and broadband infrastructure. Through this cooperation, NTIA invited IDB to support The Prague Proposals on Telecommunications Supplier Diversity released at the Prague 5G Security Conference in 2021.

Through Taiwan's contributions to open and interoperable 5G network architectures, Taiwan is helping to drive progress on shared telecommunications security, resilience, and innovation priorities. Therefore, IDB supports the Prague Proposals on Telecommunications Supplier Diversity and will continue to deepen the bilateral 5G partnership through substantive actions through Taiwan-U.S. cooperation structures such as TTIC.

In March and July 2022, IDB hosted events such as the "Taiwan-USA Open Networking & Broadband Infrastructure Opportunities Seminars" and "Taiwan-USA 5G Ecosystem Partnership Business Forum," in which an NTIA representative spoke about relevant policies of the U.S. to encourage Taiwan-U.S. cooperation. Global partners helped extend invitations to U.S. firms, including telecom operators, system integrators and software solution providers, to meet with Taiwan's firms like QCT, HTC and 16 other companies to explore joint business opportunities in 5G and broadband infrastructure.

Through information sharing, business to business seminars and forums along with the "5G Open RAN Showcase" at Taiwan Expo USA 2022 to demonstrate Taiwan's ICT capabilities, IDB also intends to welcome the delegation led by industry leaders and with participation by NTIA to Taiwan next year to promote Taiwan-U.S. cooperation, strengthen supply chain resilience, and encourage U.S. and Taiwanese firms to jointly explore overseas business opportunities to promote bilateral economic prosperity.