The Computex trade show in Taipei last week was, without question, the most dynamic iteration I have attended. The exhibition was markedly more crowded than in previous years, and artificial intelligence (AI) took center stage. The emerging technology was not merely a theme, it was the foundation of nearly every showcase. Its presence extended beyond coding and technical tools; it had clearly embedded itself into everyday life and industrial applications.
AI-enabled robotics, modular data centers and intelligent computing systems were everywhere. Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech introduced the rise of “agentic AI” and the advent of physical AI, laying out a vision where machines learn, plan and interact with the real world autonomously.
Perhaps most telling of AI’s cultural penetration is that even Pope Leo XIV, in his first formal address, identified AI as one of the defining challenges of our time. Similar to the concerns of his predecessor, Pope Francis, the new pontiff called for ethical oversight to protect human dignity, justice and labor in an age of algorithmic decisionmaking.
As I walked the exhibition halls of the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, surrounded by remarkable innovations, one question popped up in my mind: How do we power all this? The excitement gave way to a sobering reality — Taiwan’s energy security remains highly vulnerable, and meeting the growing power demands of AI will be a daunting challenge without significant strategic adjustments.
On May 17, just a few days before Computex, Taiwan shut down the nation’s last operational reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ending more than four decades of service.
In response to rising energy concerns, the Legislative Yuan passed a proposal only three days later to hold a referendum on restarting the reactor. The main reason for the move is clear: Taiwan’s energy consumption is growing, and the resources to support that growth are increasingly uncertain.
Most of Taiwan’s power generation comes from imported fossil fuel, making the nation highly vulnerable to price shocks and geopolitical risks. Nuclear power, which contributed 4.7 percent of electricity generation last year, is in steep decline. On the other hand, renewables, despite their increasing share, account for just 11 percent of total generation.
That is well below the 20 percent target set for this year by former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). As the pace of renewable deployment has not matched the rate of nuclear phaseout, the resulting gap is being filled by coal and liquefied natural gas.
One of the consequences of that imbalance was revealed last year. Despite having endorsed sanctions on Russia, Taiwan became the fifth-largest buyer of Russian coal. That was not because of a change in Taiwan’s political stance, but because soaring energy demand left the nation little choice. As renewable energy failed to close the supply gap, geopolitical entanglements deepened.
Growing energy insecurity curbs Taiwan’s ability to reach the government’s net zero goals and exposes the broader fragility of its high-tech economy. Taiwan’s status as the world’s leading semiconductor producer and, naturally, a key player in AI infrastructure, means its energy policies have global significance, as the chips enabling next-generation AI systems require energy-intensive manufacturing.
Additionally, the energy consumption of AI itself is rapidly expanding. As reasoning models and large-scale inference systems become standard, the electricity required to train, deploy and maintain such platforms is increasing logarithmically. It is no longer possible to separate questions of AI developments from those of energy policy.
Therefore, Taiwan must confront a difficult, but necessary, conversation about its energy future. Sustainable development in the AI age cannot be achieved without a reliable, scalable and diversified energy mix. Regardless of politics, nuclear energy has historically provided a stable, low-emission source of electricity. Decommissioning the last reactor without equally robust alternatives, deepens the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels and exacerbates its vulnerability to external shocks.
Reconsidering nuclear energy should not be a matter of being for or against it. It must be approached pragmatically, with the understanding that energy security is not just an environmental or economic issue, but a matter of national resilience. Taiwan’s ability to sustain its role in the global technology landscape depends as much on electricity as it does on innovation.
This year’s Computex demonstrated Taiwan’s brilliant potential in shaping the AI-driven future. However, that future will require more than computing power. It will demand a resilient and sustainable energy policy to fuel its groundbreaking technology. Without it, the promise of progress might be undermined by the power needed to sustain it.
Harun Talha Ayanoglu is a research associate at the Taiwan Center for Security Studies.
KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) recent visit to Beijing and her upcoming visit to Washington will serve as a high-level test of her diplomatic mettle. In Beijing, Cheng was received with symbolic gestures, a warm reception, and high-level access. In Washington, she will receive far less pomp and far sharper questions about the KMT’s vision for the future of Taiwan. Her challenge will be to persuade Washington that the KMT’s engagement with China can coexist with strong deterrence. Cheng’s April 7-12 visit to mainland China coincided with an intense period of conflict in Iran. Despite the strategic significance of Cheng’s trip,
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent the vast Asian chemicals industry into a tailspin. Deprived of the likes of Qatari natural gas and Saudi Arabian oil, the region’s fertilizer and plastics plants are slowing production or even shutting down. Everywhere except China, that is. In petrochemicals, China is unique. As well as a traditional industry that uses oil and gas as feedstock, it has parallel output that relies on its abundant domestic coal. Unsurprisingly, India and other regional powers want to copy and paste the Chinese method. This would not be easy — or climate friendly. The
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto says he knows how to fix the problems facing Indonesia. Yet his economic mismanagement and authoritarian tendencies are steering the nation toward a familiar mix of currency instability and political chaos. The world’s fourth-most populous nation risks reversing the hard-won democratic and business reforms that came after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. At that time, the rupiah collapsed and the political upheaval that followed forced former president Haji Mohamed Suharto from power. Prabowo’s administration is ignoring similar warning signs. That disconnect was apparent in a national address on Wednesday, when Prabowo projected the swagger that has
The White House’s decision to take a 9.9 percent stake in Intel Corp is looking like very shrewd business indeed. Since the government bought in at US$20.47 a share last August, the US chipmaker’s surging stock price has delivered the US a US$43 billion return. One of the reasons the investment has so far proved so sound is that the White House has made sure of it. According to The Wall Street Journal, Howard personally pushed deals on Intel’s behalf with some of the most lucrative clients imaginable. They include Nvidia Corp, the company at the heart of the AI
RSS