The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) has said that its national core technology list prevents foreign actors from stealing trade secrets, after a former US Department of Commerce official raised concerns about Taiwan’s export controls.
Kim Mi-yong, former chair of the Operating Committee for Export Administration at the US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), said at a forum on “techno-geopolitics” last week that there was a “discrepancy in the verbiage” between Taiwan’s Foreign Trade Act (貿易法) and its list of “national core key technologies” published in December last year.
Kim said that while the core technology list talks about protecting “key technologies,” the act, which implements export controls and requires permits from exporters, only oversees the flow of strategic high-tech “commodities” without mentioning how the export of “technologies” is regulated.
Photo: Wu Po-hsuan, Taipei Times
The list of 22 protected technologies announced by the NSTC in December spanned five sectors: defense, space, agriculture, semiconductors and information security.
Controlled semiconductor technologies are those more advanced than the mature 14-nanometer process technology and advanced IC packaging and testing technologies, such as processes involving silicon photonics integration development and related specialty chemicals, raw materials and equipment, the council said.
Asked by the Central News Agency for comment, the council on Friday said that the list aims to “strengthen the trade secrets of national core technologies, preventing them from being illegally disclosed to foreign countries, which could result in violations of national and industrial interests.”
“Trade secrets that are found to be illegally obtained by foreign entities would be investigated by prosecutors,” the council said.
The council said that the list is to “protect trade secrets by aggravating the punishment of the contraventions” and “does not affect enterprises’ existing commercial activities and collaborations.”
In other words, there is no pre-export review or implementation of controls regarding these technologies.
“Export controls are about obtaining government authentication before exporting,” Kim said.
However, in Taiwan’s case, while “technology to develop, produce or use controlled commodities is on the [national core key technology] list of controlled items, Taiwan does not review such technology exports because the Foreign Trade Act references only controls on commodities,” she said.
Kim said US export controls are an example to be followed, adding that its export control list has 10 broad categories, and each category is further subdivided into five product groups, of which “technology” is specifically singled out as a group.
Jeremy Chang (張智程), director of the semiconductor industrial policy research unit of Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Energy Technology, said that Taiwan’s National Security Act (國家安全法), the foundational law for its core technology list, is not about export controls, but only aimed at “strengthening the legal actions against economic spies that infringe private enterprises’ trade secrets.”
“This is really different from how the US, Europe and Japan have been making adjustments to their laws to build up their strength to oversee their core technologies, infrastructure and supply chain after 2018,” he said.
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) research and development director Konrad Young (楊光磊) said that he believed the limited export controls benefited Taiwanese companies to a great extent, which is why the government has been reluctant to make changes.
“If it were up to the companies, the US would not have imposed export controls,” Kim said.
While the government has to consider companies’ concerns, “at the end of the day, the government’s job is to take care of national security, not the companies’ interests,” she said.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
RSS