Industrial Development Administration Leads Delegation to Netherlands for Semiconductor Cooperation
The Industrial Development Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs said on the 4th that Deputy Director-General Chen Guoxuan led a delegation to the Netherlands, meeting with representatives of the Directorate General for Business and Innovation of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate on November 2 to exchange views on semiconductor industry development and frontier technology cooperation, and sharing the achievements of the Technology Bridge Program. The program adopted a Taiwan-Netherlands bilateral joint-call model for the first time, resulting in 4 R&D collaborations, demonstrating the complementary technological strengths of both sides. Chen Guoxuan said the Netherlands is an important economic, trade and technology partner for Taiwan in Europe, with bilateral trade totaling about 15 billion euros in 2025, making it Taiwan's 2nd largest trading partner in the EU and the largest source of investment from the EU in Taiwan.
Technology Bridge Program Yields Four Frontier R&D Collaborations
The four cross-border R&D collaborations cover advanced photonics packaging, 5G/6G high-speed communications, AI data centers and quantum computing. In advanced photonics packaging, combining Dutch high-precision fiber alignment technology with Taiwan's automated manufacturing strengths to develop mass-production-ready ultra-low-loss fiber array assembly technology, enhancing Taiwan's advanced photonics packaging equipment technology and precision assembly manufacturing capabilities. In 5G/6G high-speed communications, integrating Dutch thin-film lithium niobate photonics technology with Taiwan's millimeter-wave smart antenna modules and system integration capabilities to develop photonics-based fronthaul technology for high-frequency communications, improving the transmission performance of next-generation wireless communication systems.
Focus on AI Optical Communications and Quantum Computing Applications
In high-speed optical communications for AI data centers, developing 3.2T high-speed optical transceiver modules, combining immersion liquid cooling and heterogeneous integration technologies to meet the high-speed transmission and energy-saving cooling needs of AI data centers. In optical quantum computing, combining Dutch optical quantum computing chip technology with Taiwan's semiconductor heterogeneous integration capabilities to develop near-room-temperature single-photon detection technology, targeting next-generation quantum computing applications. As global demand for AI and high-performance computing grows rapidly, both sides are moving cooperation from trade exchanges and policy dialogue toward joint R&D on key technologies and industrial applications through the official dialogue platform and the Technology Bridge Program.
Witnessing Tripartite MOU to Expand International Markets
On November 3, the Industrial Development Administration led 18 companies, industry associations and research institutes including ITRI to Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to attend the European Integrated Photonics Summit, and witnessed the signing of a tripartite cooperation memorandum by ITRI, the Taiwan Optoelectronic and Compound Semiconductor Industry Association and the Netherlands' PhotonDelta. The three parties will focus on integrated photonics technology, concentrating on R&D in high-speed communications, computing and sensing applications, and jointly expand international market opportunities. The Industrial Development Administration emphasized that, with the rapid development of emerging fields such as AI computing, high-speed communications and advanced packaging, it will continue to facilitate joint R&D, technology validation and commercialization of results between Taiwan and the Netherlands through the Taiwan-Netherlands semiconductor official dialogue meetings, actively targeting next-generation technologies and enhancing industrial competitiveness.