With China's solar products set to lose a 9% export tax rebate in April 2026, compounded by raw material inflation, a wave of pre-rebate-cancellation stockpiling should theoretically emerge. Instead, this buying momentum has mainly come from overseas players. Meanwhile, many other foreign customers, faced with being passed on higher raw material costs, have ultimately chosen to stay on the sidelines. Survival in the industry is increasingly dependent on cash reserves rather than technological superiority.
Technological iteration is supposed to symbolize progress. Yet N-type (Tunnel Oxide Oxide Passivated Contact) TOPCon technology, which has been in commercial deployment for only about three years, is now in survival mode. Supply chain players on both sides of the Taiwan Strait point out that this crisis is no longer a simple imbalance of supply and demand figures, but rather a zeroing effect because of policy shifts, surging raw material costs, and intense technological infighting.
Chicony Power, a Taiwanese power and energy management company, is accelerating a strategic shift away from its traditional reliance on PC and notebook power supplies, expanding into communications power systems, AI server power solutions, and intelligent low-carbon integration platforms as it seeks to build a more resilient business amid market volatility.
China controls about 90% of global rare earth mining, turning the sector into a strategic lever against tariffs imposed by the US and port fees targeting Chinese vessels. Kung Ming-hsin, Minister of Economic Affairs of Taiwan, said recycling, refining, and electronic waste processing could meet up to 50% of domestic rare earth demand. The US values such "urban mining" capabilities and hopes Taiwan can export the technology to other countries, while also seeking new rare earth sources in partnership with Taiwan.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through its fifth flagship fund Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V), held a milestone event on January 29, 2026, at Taipei Port to showcase the completion of the first batch of subsea foundation assemblies for the Fengmiao Offshore Wind Farm. The project is on track for full completion in 2027.
Taiwan is stepping up efforts to anchor global investment at home, offering equal incentives to US and foreign firms even as cross-border commitments under the Taiwan–US Investment Cooperation MOU remain asymmetric.
Artificial intelligence (AI) waves and global electrification trends are causing electricity demand to soar faster than energy infrastructure can keep up. Facing core challenges in national energy strategies, achieving high-efficiency power dispatch with existing resources has become key to strengthening the resilience of modern electricity systems.
As demand accelerates for digital transformation, energy transition, and smart manufacturing, Taiwan and Germany appear poised to expand cooperation across a widening range of industries, including semiconductors, advanced machinery, green technologies, and applied innovation.
Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) has launched autonomous safety inspections for the planned restart of its second and third nuclear power plants, targeting submission of formal reactivation plans by March 2026, as Taiwan grapples with rising electricity demand from AI data centers and mounting net-zero carbon commitments.
Taiwan's electricity demand is entering a new phase of sustained growth, driven by AI, semiconductors, and high-tech manufacturing. While the government accelerates grid resilience efforts, global shortages of critical power equipment—especially gas turbines and transformers—are inflating costs, delaying projects, and reshaping how the island plans its power future.
The artificial intelligence boom is creating an unprecedented energy crisis. As AI data centers proliferate worldwide, electricity demand is surging faster than supply can keep pace, forcing governments and industries to rethink power infrastructure on a massive scale.
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