Broader collaboration with Taiwan does not conflict with US President Donald Trump’s “made in the USA” policy and Anduril Industries is seeking to expand collaborations with Taiwan to create a China-free supply chain, an executive at the Costa Mesa, California-based defense company said on Friday last week.
Palmer Lucky, the founder of Anduril and Oculus VR, has great faith in HTC Corp and its capabilities in virtual-reality manufacturing, as well as Tainan’s capabilities to manufacture optical components, small motors, chips and other precision components, Anduril Industries managing director of East Asian and Taiwanese affairs Alexander Chang (張良治) told a news conference at an industry event organized by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
Asked about a collaboration between Anduril and the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology on artificial intelligence (AI) command and control, Chang said that the final decision on whether to procure goods from Taiwan remains undecided, while the ratio of precision components to be manufactured here has yet to be set.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of National Defense
Regardless, a China-free supply chain is what we are pushing toward, he said.
Asked whether Anduril would continue to provide platforms to Taiwan at the pace it did last year, Chang said that the company was waiting for a letter of acceptance to be officially signed, at which time it would comply with its terms.
Anduril set the record for the “fastest” delivery of US arms to Taiwan last fiscal year, with the purchase of 291 Altius 600M-V anti-armor drones, all of which were delivered by March.
Domo Tactical Communications has also expressed its intent to expand into Taiwan, with company vice president of business development Brady Crosier saying that it has visited five Taiwanese manufacturers, with the visits facilitated by the US Department of Commerce and the AIT.
His company has signed a contract with one manufacturer with the goal of purchasing all of its chips from Taiwan, Crosier added.
The company is interested in collaborating with the institute on Project Jui Chih (銳指), a domestically produced and developed battlefield management system, he said.
Shield AI cofounder Brandon Tseng (曾國光) said that sovereign AI development in Taiwan has reached a significant milestone, citing his company’s work with Taiwanese firms and its ability to deliver drones made from scratch within eight weeks.
Shield AI is prioritizing its collaborations with Taiwan’s top 10 drone manufacturing firms, with the work not based on a political stance, but on whether the firm could establish local repair infrastructure and improve local sovereign AI capabilities, he added.
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