Taiwan’s drone goals play to its technology manufacturing strengths 

Financial Times UK 23 Jul 2026 

There’s a new drone maker on the block. Hot on the heels of Ukraine, which has gone from a stand ing start five years ago to pro du cing mil lions of unmanned aer ial vehicles per year, Taiwan is stak ing its bid to become a drone-pro duc tion power house. The Taiwanese gov ern ment wants to ear mark $6.5bn for drones over the next six years. Estab lish ing itself in the field is far from blue-sky think ing. It already sup plies much of the world’s most advanced chips and boasts a vibrant private sec tor build ing pro duc tion cap ab il ity. There are plenty of buy ers: drone exports in the first quarter of this year trumped the entirety of 2025. Coun tries are hus band ing funds for mil it ary drones; national industry boos t er ism not with stand ing, some of this will end up being spent over seas. True, on cur rent run rates, Taiwan is still a min now. Par tic u larly beside its big ger neigh bour and would-be sov er eign, China, which pro duces by far the lion’s share of drones glob ally. But it has put in place Ukraine-style leaps in terms of capa city. Monthly pro duc tion of 15,000 units is expec ted to grow sev en fold by 2030, says the Min istry of Eco nomic Affairs, with half of them being sold over seas. Scal ing up brings eco nom ies of scale, and Taiwan is tak ing another leaf from China’s play book: dual-use tech no logy. Offer ing com mer cial applic a tions along side mil it ary ones, thus widen ing the mar ket and redu cing unit costs, encour ages man u fac tur ers to invest. Shen zhen-based DJI, industry leader, earned its stripes as a maker of hob by ists’ toys. Wash ing ton is onside, doubt less wooed in part by Taiwan’s focus on a sup ply chain devoid of input from China; a so-called red-free chain. To this end a gov ern mentest ab lished group ing — the snap pily named Taiwan Excel lence Drone Industry Busi ness Oppor tun it ies Alli ance — boasts more than 200 mem bers. Co-lead ers include elec tron ics spe cial ists such as Coret ronic and Qisda Corp, which has bought drone dis trib ut ors and makers of parts like mil it ary-grade motors. Taiwan’s push in the field has not been lost on investors. Shares in Thun der Tiger, which makes dental kit along side mid sized and large drones, have nearly double in the past month. Those in Ever green Avi ation Tech no lo gies are up by a third over the same period. Inev it ably, accus a tions of Chin alinked parts have emerged. But Taiwan, which leads the world in man u fac tur ing chips and bikes, has form in every link of the chain from R&D through to selling glob ally. Drones have a fair chance of fol low ing suit.