On September 28, Republic of China President Lai Ching-te presided over the groundbreaking and campus opening ceremony of the Academia Sinica UAV Industrial Park in Chiayi, calling on the Legislative Yuan to pass an additional defense budget of 60 billion New Taiwan Dollars as soon as possible, stating that Taiwan's UAV industry "only lacks the East Wind."
The Institute of Aviation and Astronomy (IAC) drone industrial park has broken ground and commenced operations in Chiayi, with over 1.1 billion yuan already invested. An additional 6.9 billion yuan is expected to be invested, with completion projected for 2028. Last year, Taiwan's drone output value reached 12.9 billion yuan, a growth of over 2.5 times.
On September 3, Taiwan's Executive Yuan added NT$145.7 billion to the defense budget, planning to purchase more than 40,000 littoral attack drones, over 600 surveillance and reconnaissance drones, and more than 100 suicide unmanned boats, while also promoting non-red supply chains for drones to reduce dependence on Chinese components.