The government of Taiwan has indicated that it is “very open” to the deployment of nuclear energy to cope with the surging demand for power from chipmakers in the country precipitated by the growth of AI.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai signaled the change, stating: “We hope that Taiwan can also catch up with global trends and new nuclear technologies.”
The statement follows the temporary shutdown of Taiwan's only active nuclear plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township. The plant will be decommissioned in May 2025, making Taiwan the first non-nuclear state in East Asia.
Highlighting a potential shift toward nuclear energy, Cho expressed his intention to request the state-owned power company retain staff from the country's decommissioned nuclear reactors.
According to data from the Taiwanese Energy Administration, nuclear power comprised 6.31 percent of the country's energy consumption last year. Coal remained the dominant source at 42.24 percent, followed by liquefied natural gas at 39.57 percent. Renewable energy contributed 9.47 percent, while hydroelectricity accounted for just 1.08 percent.
Taiwan's power demand is projected to increase at an average annual rate of 2.8 percent through 2033, fueled primarily by rising energy consumption in the artificial intelligence sector. As part of its climate change efforts, the government also targets net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Much of this demand stems from the chipmakerTSMC, which, according to a new report from S&P Global, could account for almost 24 percent of Taiwan’s power consumption by 2030.
Nuclear energy has gained significant traction over 2024 as a crucial future power source for data center operations due to its non-intermittent nature, compared to renewable energy sources, while still being relatively low-carbon.
Several US hyperscalers have signed high-profile nuclear power supply deals over 2024. These include AWS, which acquired Talen Energy’s data center campus at a nuclear power station in Pennsylvania in March, and Microsoft, which signed a power purchase agreement to take up 100 percent of power from the revived 837MW Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.