A 32.1 percent increase in next year’s budget for the nation’s “five trusted industry sectors” is unaffected by the amended Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法), the Cabinet’s budget plan showed.
The Cabinet approved a NT$28.4 billion (US$929.8 million) budget for the “five trusted industry sectors” — semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), defense, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications. The budget would rise to NT$28.7 billion if combined with a NT$300 million special fund.
Of the total budget, NT$15.5 billion would flow to the semiconductor sector, NT$9.9 billion of which would be appropriated from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to promote several programs, the Cabinet’s budget proposal showed.
Photo: Reuters
The initiatives include a subsidy for domestic small or medium-sized businesses in IC design, the “A+ Global Innovation Partnership Initiative Program” and projects related to the development of certain chips.
It also includes funds for an advanced packaging technology known as heterogeneous integration and advanced chip manufacturing under the Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program.
The National Science and Technology Council would appropriate NT$5.42 billion to the Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program to support projects related to software and hardware infrastructure, international industrial collaboration, IC design education, and high-performance computing chip research and development, the Cabinet’s budget plan showed.
The AI sector would receive NT$8.3 billion, mainly funded by a NT$5.69 billion grant from the council to promote AI-related projects under the Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program, as well as an initiative dedicated to building a “smart technology-focused great southern industrial ecosystem” and a subsidy program for AI research in critical fields.
Additionally, NT$1.46 billion from the economic affairs ministry would be used to promote the research and development of smart manufacturing technology and the creation of an edge AI critical technology ecosystem.
The Ministry of Digital Affairs would allocate NT$880 million to a program dedicated to investing in domestic AI start-ups, as well as a project promoting AI applications across industries.
The Cabinet proposal includes NT$3.6 billion for next-generation communications, primarily from the economic affairs ministry’s NT$1.97 billion budget to promote 6G telecom development, as well as other ministry programs related to international cooperation, testing platform construction and integrated applications in next-generation communications.
The National Science and Technology Council would allocate NT$1.43 billion to fund research and development of low Earth orbit satellites and communications payloads.
The proposal earmarks NT$800 million for the surveillance sector, with funding from the digital affairs ministry’s NT$590 million budget to enhance a cross-agency integrated cybersecurity defense program, and a subsidy for the research and development of dual-use cybersecurity technology, as well as to promote a post-quantum cryptography application project under the Taiwan Chip-based Industrial Innovation Program.
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