Taiwan, Japan sign MOU for drone supply chain cooperation

Taipei, June 4 (CNA) A Taiwanese drone industry delegation that is currently attending a drone industry trade fair in Tokyo signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a Japanese drone industry alliance on Wednesday, establishing a foundation for long-term collaboration in a range of areas including supply chain integration.

Hu Kai-hung (胡開宏), who heads the Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance (TEDIBOA), is leading a Taiwanese delegation to Tokyo to showcase Taiwan's R&D capabilities in the drone industry through the Taiwan pavilion at the Japan Drone 2025 exhibition from June 4-6, the TEDIBOA said in a statement released Wednesday.

The delegation includes representatives from Aerospace Industrial Development Corp., Taiwan Defense Industry Development Association, Taiwan Aerospace Industry Association, Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corp., Thunder Tiger Corp. and several other Taiwanese companies.

While in Tokyo, Hu officially signed an MOU with Yasuhiro Senda, executive vice president of Japan UAS Industry Development Association (JUIDA), the TEDIBOA said in the statement.

During the signing ceremony, Hu emphasized that JUIDA is one of Japan's most representative drone industry organizations. The partnership aims to foster drone supply chain integration and speed up the entry of Taiwanese drone-related products into the Japanese market, according to the statement.

In the statement, the TEDIBOA highlighted the two countries' complementary strengths in the drone industry, saying that Japan excels in precision machinery and automation, while Taiwan has advantages in semiconductors, cybersecurity, manufacturing and systems integration.

Future collaboration will focus on supply chain integration, including technology development, application implementation and market sharing, it said.

In addition, given that Taiwan and Japan have different regulatory systems in this field, this cooperation framework provides an effective platform for communication, helping reduce compliance barriers and facilitate market entry for both sides, TEDIBOA indicated.

Currently, in its 10th edition, the Japan Drone exhibition has seen increasingly diverse industrial applications, particularly in disaster prevention and relief, surveying, monitoring and logistics. The Japanese government has allocated over 100 billion Japanese yen (US$694.72 million) to promote the development of its drone industry, according to the statement.

The TEDIBOA was established by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in September 2024 and currently has around 200 members.