TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese drone manufacturers remain off the US list of approved suppliers, prompting experts on Tuesday to recommend expanding first into the European market as a stepping stone to America.
The Global Taiwan Institute, a Washington-based think tank, hosted a seminar titled “Taiwan’s China-Free Drone Production: Successes and Continued Challenges,” per CNA. Business Editor for Aviation Week Matthew Fulco and US-Taiwan Business Council Executive Vice President Lotta Danielsson were among the speakers.
Beyond the lack of Taiwanese firms on the approved supplier list, tariffs also add uncertainty to Taiwan-US drone cooperation. Fulco cited the example of the US temporarily setting Taiwan’s tariff rate at 20%, adding that it remains unclear how this duty would apply to drone components.
He also outlined reasons for Europe’s interest in Taiwanese drones. First, Europe has genuine security concerns about Chinese drones, while Taiwanese models are more likely to meet EU cybersecurity standards.
Second, during former President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, multiple European delegations visited Taiwan, quietly building technological cooperation, with drones gradually emerging as a key focus.
Fulco identified Poland as a major opportunity for Taiwan’s drone industry. Poland’s role as a logistics hub in the Ukraine war and its defense ties with Kyiv could make it Taiwan’s largest drone export market.
Customs data shows that Taiwanese drone exports reached US$11.89 million (NT$357 million) in the first half of this year, up 749% year-on-year. The top five export markets were Poland, the US, Germany, the Czech Republic, and Hong Kong, which together accounted for 97% of the total.
Fulco pointed out that in July, Poland announced plans to allocate about US$53 million of its defense budget to unmanned aerial systems, representing an opening for Taiwanese companies.
He added that Germany and the Czech Republic are also boosting military spending and share concerns about Ukraine’s defense. A Czech envoy in charge of Ukraine’s reconstruction even suggested that drone technology should be a priority for Czech-Taiwan cooperation.
Fulco stressed that while the US remains Taiwan’s most important security partner, with its vast and fast-growing defense technology sector, Europe, facing the largest war on its soil since World War II, is moving faster out of necessity.
Danielsson said the complexity of US export control laws is one of the obstacles to Taiwan-US drone cooperation. She confirmed that the US maintains an approved vendor list for drone procurement, and to her knowledge, Taiwanese companies are not on it.
Danielsson told CNA that the list was introduced in recent years and is divided into blue for government use and green for industry use. She added that the certification process is not transparent.
Danielsson argued that the European market can help Taiwan’s drone industry build scale from a smaller base, making entry into the US market more feasible later.
She also pointed to challenges within Taiwan’s drone industry, including attracting talent, coping with potential Chinese sanctions on companies involved in the supply chain, and determining what government support should be provided. The country also faces geographic limitations, such as a lack of sufficient airspace for drone testing.
