The Ministry of Economic Affairs released the 2025 White Paper on Startups Feb. 2 in Taipei City to bring the public up to speed on the government’s related promotional efforts and the domestic sector’s development.
According to the MOEA, as of year-end 2025, there were 10,552 startups in the country offering 105,000 jobs, with 278 of them listed on Taiwan’s stock market. They reported total sales of NT$642.5 billion (US$20.34 billion) in 2024, up 34 percent from the year before.
The sector’s goods exports surged 29.3 percent year on year in 2025 to NT$147.9 billion, with sales to Southeast Asia reporting the largest growth at 125.48 percent, followed by Japan at 46.73 percent and the U.S. at 11.75 percent. Such strong numbers show startups’ increasing contribution to Taiwan’s foreign trade and innovation exports.
Equally important, the firms received investment totaling NT$100.2 billion in 2024, the highest in nearly 10 years. The funding was concentrated in areas with long-term growth potential, such as health, medicine and biology, electronics hardware, artificial intelligence, and energy.
The MOEA said startups are shifting their focus to green transition and digital applications, including environmental sustainability, financial services and AI. In particular, 2,381 enterprises, or 22.56 percent of the total, were in areas targeted in President Lai Ching-te’s Five Trusted Industry Sectors initiative.
Another notable trend is the regional specialization of startups, with those in northern Taiwan focusing on AI and semiconductors, the central region emerging as a hub for precision manufacturing and the south concentrating on smart ports, green energy and other emerging technologies, the ministry added. (SFC-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw
According to the MOEA, as of year-end 2025, there were 10,552 startups in the country offering 105,000 jobs, with 278 of them listed on Taiwan’s stock market. They reported total sales of NT$642.5 billion (US$20.34 billion) in 2024, up 34 percent from the year before.
The sector’s goods exports surged 29.3 percent year on year in 2025 to NT$147.9 billion, with sales to Southeast Asia reporting the largest growth at 125.48 percent, followed by Japan at 46.73 percent and the U.S. at 11.75 percent. Such strong numbers show startups’ increasing contribution to Taiwan’s foreign trade and innovation exports.
Equally important, the firms received investment totaling NT$100.2 billion in 2024, the highest in nearly 10 years. The funding was concentrated in areas with long-term growth potential, such as health, medicine and biology, electronics hardware, artificial intelligence, and energy.
The MOEA said startups are shifting their focus to green transition and digital applications, including environmental sustainability, financial services and AI. In particular, 2,381 enterprises, or 22.56 percent of the total, were in areas targeted in President Lai Ching-te’s Five Trusted Industry Sectors initiative.
Another notable trend is the regional specialization of startups, with those in northern Taiwan focusing on AI and semiconductors, the central region emerging as a hub for precision manufacturing and the south concentrating on smart ports, green energy and other emerging technologies, the ministry added. (SFC-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw
from Taiwan Today – Top News