Speaking at the 2026 Taiwan-Japan Semiconductor Technology Forum in Taipei on Monday, August 3, Taiwan’s Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said Taiwan and Japan should deepen semiconductor cooperation and develop a substantive, long-term, and stable partnership, which he described as a “relationship of trust.”

Cho also said Taiwan’s Economic Ministry is piloting a joint research and development program with Japan focused on smart technology, smart manufacturing, materials and biomedical technology, autonomous vehicles, and green energy.

“We expect both sides to move from complementarity toward a stage of joint innovation [...] and from serving each other's markets to being broader partners that develop global markets, and from industrial cooperation to a substantive, long-term, and stable partnership,” he said.

Cho pointed to TSMC’s two plants in Kumamoto as an example of successful cooperation. Their combined investment exceeds US$25.89 billion, he said, with the first plant entering mass production in 2024.

Also speaking at the forum’s opening, Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chief Representative Kazuyuki Katayama said he believed “it is important precisely now to further deepen cooperation between Japan and Taiwan, which are bound by a strong relationship of trust.”

Taiwan-Japan Semiconductor Technology Association Honorary President Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝) meanwhile described trust as “the most precious competitive strength” in a “world full of change.”