Taiwan: The Next Frontier for Agile AI Innovation & High-Trust Governance

Taiwan occupies a rare intersection of geopolitics and technology. Globally recognized for its dominance in semiconductors and its indispensable role in AI hardware supply chains, Taiwan is now emerging as a different kind of regulatory leader. Rather than merely replicating the rigid legal frameworks of established global powers, Taiwan is offering an agile regulatory environment that strategically positions the island as a launchpad for global AI investment, research, and development.

Global Regulatory Architectures: Ambition and Constraint

Across the world, AI regulation has rapidly become a projection of national strategy, yielding diverse compliance models:

• European Union (EU) – Regulation as Export: Through the AI Act, adopted in 2024, the EU enforces a risk-tiered compliance model. This strategy leverages the “Brussels Effect” to extend its normative influence far beyond its borders.[1]
• United States (US) – Federal / State Market Experimentation: The US system is characterized by federal restraint combined with active state-level initiatives. This has produced a fragmented but dynamic ecosystem, evidenced by measures such as the Colorado AI Act (2025), which addresses AI risk disclosures, and New York City Local Law 144 (2023), concerning AI in employment decisions. This framework is shaped significantly by both courts and legislators.[2]
• China – Strategic Control: China employs targeted regulations on specific applications, such as the Provisions on the Administration of Deep Synthesis Internet Information Services (2023) and the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services (2023). This approach seeks to balance rapid innovation with centralized oversight and critical state security imperatives.[3]
• Japan and Singapore – Pragmatic Flexibility: These jurisdictions favor soft law, co-regulation, and voluntary compliance. Frameworks like Japan’s AI Governance Guidelines (2022) and Singapore’s AI Verify Framework (2022) aim to lower industry friction and create ample room for industry-led standards.[4]

While each of these models offers a degree of foreseeability, they often achieve this at the expense of agility – a quality precisely valued by emerging AI markets seeking to scale rapidly.

Taiwan’s Regulatory Architecture: Flexibility as a Core Design Feature

Taiwan’s regulatory environment is strategically distinct. Although a draft Artificial Intelligence Basic Act is currently under deliberation by the Taiwan Executive Yuan,[5] the present stage – marked by the absence of fully prescriptive, rigid rules – creates a unique environment where innovation moves quickly and partnerships can scale without unnecessary regulatory delay.

This approach yields three critical advantages for international stakeholders:

• Fast Iteration: Companies are able to prototype and deploy AI solutions without facing the drag of heavy, prolonged compliance cycles.
• Sandbox by Design: Once enacted, a principles-based framework can embed necessary regulatory mechanisms, such as regulatory sandboxes and feedback loops. This approach, supported by proposals from the National Development Council (Taiwan), allows policymakers and innovators to co-create standards in real time.[6]
• Selective Alignment: For critical export-facing sectors, such as medical AI or autonomous vehicles, Taiwan can selectively harmonize its standards with those of the EU or the US. This ensures necessary global access while simultaneously protecting its domestic space for crucial experimentation.[7] This balance between openness and optional alignment is what makes Taiwan uniquely attractive as a jurisdiction for both the testing and scaling of novel AI applications.

From Silicon Power to Trusted AI: Hardware as Governance

Taiwan’s semiconductor ecosystem is more than just an economic stronghold. It possesses the unique potential to become the foundation of trusted AI. This introduces a powerful technological legal concept: Hardware as Governance.

By embedding critical governance features (such as transparency, privacy protection, and bias-detection) directly into the chips, Taiwan has the opportunity to leverage its technological advantage to shape global compliance norms. This perspective, detailed in discussions concerning semiconductors as critical infrastructure, proposes a strategic shift:

A global certification of “Made in Taiwan = High-Trust AI” could effectively reposition the island from being merely a hardware supplier to becoming a key global standard-setter. Such an initiative would create new avenues for robust public-private collaboration and attract international investment seeking high-integrity AI solutions.

An Invitation to Engagement

Taiwan’s current regulatory moment should not just be viewed as a gap, but rather as a strategic opportunity. For legal professionals, entrepreneurs, and researchers focused on the intersection of law and emerging technology, Taiwan offers fertile ground. It is a jurisdiction designed for agility, trust, and creative collaboration.

The policy decisions taken in Taiwan regarding AI governance will not only shape its domestic industries but will profoundly influence the next chapter of responsible, high-trust AI worldwide. For those seeking a practical, dynamic frontier to build and scale the future of AI, Taiwan stands as an essential jurisdiction for observation and engagement.

Roick Feng and Emily Lee are co-authors of this article.

Footnotes

[1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1689, Artificial Intelligence Act, OJ L 2024/204.

[2] See e.g., Colorado AI Act (2025) (first U.S. state law addressing AI risk disclosures); New York City Local Law 144 (2023) (AI in employment decisions).

[3] Cyberspace Administration of China, Provisions on the Administration of Deep Synthesis Internet Information Services (2023); Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services (2023).

[4] Japan: AI Governance Guidelines 2022 (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications); Singapore: Infocomm Media Development Authority, AI Verify Framework (2022).

[5] Taiwan Executive Yuan, Draft Artificial Intelligence Basic Act (2023) (under legislative deliberation).

[6] National Development Council (Taiwan), AI Strategy and Sandbox Proposals (2024).

[7] Comparative approach discussed in EU-Taiwan Industrial Collaboration Forum, AI and Cross-Border Standards (2024).