Gov't-backed drone industry alliance to seek overseas orders

Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) A newly formed 50-member government-supported Taiwanese drone supply chain alliance targeting overseas business opportunities held an official launch ceremony in Taichung on Monday.

At the ceremony, Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏), the alliance's head and chairman of Taichung-based Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), promised to focus on forging international links and building a domestic drone supply chain.

The event, which gathered representatives from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the Industrial Technology Research Institute, and the private sector, was held to demonstrate Taiwan's determination to develop its drone industry, AIDC said in a news release.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Economic Affairs Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) said drone development was an international trend and that the time was ripe to build a national champion.

In the future, the alliance, called "Taiwan elite drone alliance for overseas business opportunities" in Chinese, will represent Taiwan to seek international orders based on a government-to-government basis and the ministry will give support and provide necessary subsidies to promote the coalition's development, according to Kuo.

The MOEA announced the formation of the alliance and the selection of Hu as its chairman on Sept. 10.

The alliance consists of 50 members and its co-chairmen are from seven companies: Mitac Advance Technology Corp., AirAsia, Thunder Tiger, Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corp., Geosat Aerospace & Technology Inc., Evergreen Aviation Technologies Corp., and Qisda Group.

According to Hu, the alliance will hold monthly meetings hosted on a rotating basis by its seven co-chairmen.

In its news release, AIDC said that while the global unmanned aerial vehicle market is experiencing rapid growth, it remains an emerging industry in Taiwan.

Although many companies are involved in the industry, their scale is relatively small and they lack system integration capabilities, AIDC said.

While AIDC has long been engaged in military and civil aircraft research and development projects, "system integration" is its strength, the Taichung-based aerospace company said.

Therefore, it can first help establish domestic economies of scale, shorten supply chains and maximize resilience, before ultimately building a drone industry national champion, AIDC said.

The firm also said the new alliance will integrate the technologies of domestic manufacturers and seek global orders.

AIDC said that the government has set a goal for the domestic industry of a monthly production capacity of 15,000 drones and an overall industrial output value of NT$30 billion (US$935.62 million) by 2028, around 10 times the current levels.