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Paper short abstract

This paper traces Taiwan’s "energy-semiconductor entanglement" from the Sun Yun-hsuan era (1962-84) to the 2025 AI-driven nuclear policy "U-turn." It unbundles the paradox of semiconductor expansion vs. energy transition, revealing the deep-seated politico-economic networks behind the power grid.

Paper long abstract

Current geopolitical AI races have driven radical energy demands worldwide. In Taiwan, the energy transition roadmap was knocked off by the post-pandemic semiconductor strategy. In May 2025, the ‘Nuclear-free Homeland’ policy announced in 2016 was eventually realised (the final nuclear plant was decommissioned). Nonetheless, TSMC and the semiconductor supply chain continued to announce the biggest capacity expansion that year, and electricity demand from them was a top priority for the government to consider. Proactive and reactive policy tools to revitalise nuclear plants were invented to cover the supply shortage of renewable energy. In the view of the civil society and green parties, this scenario is a ‘U-turn’ in the energy transition roadmap.

This paper aims to unbundle the energy paradox of the semiconductor strategy by visiting the post-war history of Taiwan. By arguing that the development of the electricity infrastructure and the semiconductor industry were inseparable from a key politician, Premier of the Executive Yuan Sun Yun-hsun, this paper offers a historical explanation for the (re)unification of energy and semiconductor policies. Moreover, this paper employs this viewpoint and presents contemporary evidence of the collaborations and entanglement between the semiconductor industry and the electricity infrastructure, including fossil fuels and nuclear energy. These politico-economic networks and consortia always exist behind the scenes of Taiwan's energy transition roadmap. Since global chip acts affect local energy demands and transitions, this paper also proposes interrogating the energy-semiconductor entanglement internationally.