To take advantage of the lucrative business opportunities brought on by the booming growth of 5G technology, the Executive Yuan in 2019 approved a Taiwan 5G action plan (2019-2022) designed to develop 5G value-added telecommunications and vertical application services. Under that plan, the production value of Taiwan's network communications industry chain is expected to exceed NT$1.2 trillion (US$43.1 billion) in 2021, making it one of the country's leading industries. From 2021 through 2025, the government will further invest NT$49 billion (US$1.8 billion) under the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program to help the industry accelerate and expand efforts to promote setting up 5G infrastructure across the country, and will amend regulations to encourage businesses to invest in 5G technology. By playing to Taiwan's strengths in semiconductors and the information and communications technology industries, the government hopes to use 5G capabilities to boost the development of the information and digital industries sector and continue expanding Taiwan's position in core global supply chains.
Four strategies
■ Encourage industrial upgrading and transformation: Guide businesses in Taiwan's 5G industrial chain to invest in R&D for cutting-edge communication technologies critical to 5G, such as mobile phone chips and semiconductor manufacturing processes. Help different industries incorporate 5G technology, which has already yielded promising results in medical institutions, manufacturing factories, petrochemical plants and other industrial fields.
■ Promote advanced 5G demonstrations: This includes creating Taiwan's largest innovative 5G R&D test site in the Asia's New Bay Area in Kaohsiung, encouraging businesses to participate in field trials, and building an innovative 5G applications environment (including the required budget, regulations, test sites and personnel), to nurture more innovative 5G vertical applications.
■ Increase international connections: Continue expanding international collaborations. Create an open 5G network testing platform to give Taiwanese factories a domestic equipment interoperability testing environment that meets international standards and requirements. This testing environment will be able to work with international testing standards and move Taiwanese factories into the international 5G supply chain faster.
■ Cultivate 5G industry personnel: Bring in talent to tackle industry challenges. Encourage companies to propose challenging topics encountered during the R&D process for commercial 5G products, and then engage juniors, seniors and graduate students recommended by participating colleges and universities as interns to work on those topics.