Eleven of Taiwan's most powerful technology and manufacturing executives gathered at President Lai Ching-te (賴清德)'s official residence on July 18 for a 90-minute closed-door meeting, pressing the government to address electricity shortages, water supply risks, and a deepening talent gap they say now threaten the island's grip on the global AI supply chain.
The gathering, which drew no cameras and issued no public statement, brought together leaders of companies with a combined market capitalization exceeding $2 trillion. Their concerns signal a pivotal shift: Taiwan's tech sector is no longer worried about running out of orders — it is worried about running out of power.
An Industry in High Demand but Short on Resources
The breadth of the attendee list underscored the urgency of the issues. Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), chairman of electronics manufacturer Pegatron and vice convener of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Climate Change, opened the discussion. He was joined by Liu Yang-wei (劉揚偉), chairman of Foxconn and head of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association; Hou Yung-ching (侯永清), a senior vice president at TSMC who also leads the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association; and Acer chairman Chen Jun-sheng (陳俊聖), representing the computer industry association.
The printed circuit board sector showed up in force — an unusual sign of collective anxiety. Four representatives attended from Taiwan's PCB supply chain, including Taiwan Printed Circuit Association chairman Chang Yuan-ming (張元銘) and the chairmen of Nanya Technology, Unimicron, and Nan Ya PCB. Rounding out the group were Pan Jun-rong (潘俊榮), chairman of the National Federation of Industries; Lin Po-feng (林伯豐), who leads both Taiwan Glass and the San San Society business lobbying group; and Miao Feng-chiang (苗豐強), honorary chairman of Linde Gas Taiwan. Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), head of the Executive Yuan, attended alongside the president for the full session.
Participants say four issues dominated the agenda: energy supply and nuclear power policy, water resource management, talent shortages exacerbated by Taiwan's declining birth rate, and the uneven geographic spread of industrial development between the island's north and south.
Nuclear Restart Targets 2027 as TSMC's Power Footprint Grows
Energy was the session's sharpest focus. According to people present at the meeting, Lai told the group that the government plans to bring Nuclear Power Plant No. 3 — located in Pingtung county at Taiwan's southern tip — back online by the end of 2027, with Nuclear Plant No. 2 in northern Taiwan to follow by 2028. Should both plants resume commercial operation, nuclear power could once again account for more than 10% of the island's electricity generation.
The scale of the problem is hard to overstate. Industry estimates put TSMC's share of Taiwan's total electricity consumption at more than 10%, and the chipmaker continues to expand domestically and abroad. As one participant put it bluntly: "TSMC's annual increase in power demand is already well beyond what citizens turning off a few extra lights could offset."
Participants noted that the strain extends beyond semiconductor fabs. Taiwan Glass has seen surging demand for high-end electronic-grade fiberglass cloth driven by AI server buildouts and 800G high-speed networking upgrades, with products featuring low dielectric constant and low thermal expansion coefficient already in short supply. But fiberglass cloth manufacturing is extremely power-intensive. Without a reliable electricity supply, executives warned, capacity cannot keep pace with orders — and contracts may end up flowing to overseas rivals instead.
Tung Warns That Samsung Is Closing the Gap
One of the meeting's most pointed moments came when Tung raised the competitive threat from South Korea. Samsung, he said, has staged a powerful recovery on the back of surging demand for HBM — high bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators — with profits rebounding sharply in both the first and second quarters of 2026. If Samsung continues reinvesting those gains into capital expenditure, Tung cautioned, it could once again challenge TSMC's lead in the global semiconductor hierarchy.
His warning carried an implicit call to action: Taiwan cannot afford to be complacent. Tung urged both government and industry to simultaneously strengthen three foundations — regulatory efficiency, talent pipelines, and energy security. Without progress on all three, he argued, Taiwan's current advantage in the AI supply chain could erode faster than expected.
PCB sector executives echoed the broader concern. Participants noted that over the past 18 months, Taiwan has steadily gained ground over Japan and South Korea in ABF substrates and advanced printed circuit boards. Sustaining that edge, they said, requires the government to move decisively on land, power, and infrastructure — not merely on industrial policy.
Pingtung and Water Resources Earmarked for Southern Growth
On the water front, Lai briefed the group on the government's "Pearl String Water Resources Plan," which aims to link water systems across northern and southern Taiwan to improve distribution capacity and reduce drought risk — giving businesses more confidence in long-term supply reliability.
The meeting also touched on a longer-term industrial geography play. With Nuclear Plant No. 3 slated for restart, southern Taiwan is expected to gain more stable power supply conditions. Pingtung county — which still has available land and room for development — is now being positioned by the government as a potential anchor for the next wave of AI supply chain investment.
Talent shortages generated extended discussion as well. The concern was not limited to near-term labor gaps but extended to the structural impact of Taiwan's chronically low birth rate on the island's long-term competitiveness. Premier Cho raised the possibility of companies investing in workforce development through scholarships and industry-university partnerships.
What the 90-minute session at the presidential residence made clear is that Taiwan's biggest anxiety in the AI era has fundamentally changed. As NVIDIA's Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) makes repeated visits to the island to reinforce AI supply chain ties, Taiwan's own industry chiefs are filing into the president's home to confront a more basic question: if power, water, and people cannot keep pace with the AI gold rush, even the world's most indispensable tech island risks ceding its advantage in the next global race. （Related： Opinion | Brexit, Nuclear Phase-Outs, and a Decade of Policy Reckoning ｜ Latest ）
