Taiwan breaks ground on Chiayi drone park to build a non-Chinese supply chain

# What happened Taiwan held a ceremony on Sept. 28 to open the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology's (NCSIST) Minxiong campus in Chiayi and to break ground on an adjacent aerospace and UAV industrial park. President Lai Ching-te attended the event.

# Why the project exists NCSIST and Taiwanese authorities want to build a drone supply chain that excludes Chinese components. The project's stated goal is a "non-red supply chain" that brings together manufacturers, government agencies, universities, and researchers on shared computing and digital engineering platforms.

# What the Minxiong campus offers The Minxiong campus took three years to build. Facilities include a research building, hangars, laboratories, and integration testing spaces. NCSIST says engineers there can work through every stage of a drone's life cycle: airframe design, propulsion, flight-control systems, and final testing.

The campus also uses digital twin technology — virtual copies of aircraft tested in simulation before real flights — alongside artificial intelligence and virtual reality tools to accelerate design and testing cycles.

# The industrial park plan The new park next to Minxiong aims to host about 100 companies, according to Chiayi County Magistrate Weng Chang-liang. It is meant to consolidate industry players around shared computing power and digital engineering tools, enabling private firms to link more closely with NCSIST's military and mid-size drone development.

The industrial park builds on the Asia UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center in nearby Puzi City, which opened in 2022 and now hosts more than 50 drone firms. Local officials say demand has outgrown existing space, with another 40–50 companies waiting for room.

# Industry scale and government targets Official figures cited in the report show rapid growth: Taiwan's drone output reached NT$12.9 billion in 2025, about 2.5 times the 2024 figure, and exports totaled NT$2.95 billion in 2025. In October 2025, the Executive Yuan launched a six-year NT$44.2 billion program to develop the uncrewed vehicle industry, targeting annual drone output above NT$40 billion by 2030.

# Strategy for military and civilian drones

# Political and budget challenges Funding debates are ongoing. The Ministry of Economic Affairs warned in July that proposed budget cuts by the opposition Kuomintang (which controls the legislature) could harm the industry. Local officials are seeking approval for more than NT$40 billion in drone-related procurement funding to sustain growth and meet program targets.

# Bottom line The Minxiong campus and the new aerospace and UAV industrial park are concrete steps to concentrate Taiwan's drone development and production around a supply chain explicitly excluding Chinese components. The plan combines advanced digital tools, state-run research capabilities, and private-sector capacity, but national targets depend on continued funding and legislative support.