IEDC to lead trade delegation to Taiwan as state opens economic development office in Taipei

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced Tuesday that Commerce Secretary David Rosenberg will lead a delegation to Taiwan to participate in a microelectronics conference and meet with industry leaders and companies doing business in Indiana.

Rosenberg will also use the trip this week to promote an IEDC office the agency said it opened on Aug. 1 in Taipei, the capital of the East Asian country. The IEDC has appointed a Taiwan adviser and said it plans to hire a director for the office in the next few weeks.

The moves are the latest in the IEDC’s work to strengthen the state’s position in the semiconductor industry where Taiwan is an international leader. Gov. Eric Holcomb led a trade trip to Taiwan in 2022. Indiana is now home to 10 Taiwan-based business establishments, and last year did $1.61 billion in trade with the country, primarily in computer and electronic products, chemicals, electrical equipment and components and machinery and transportation equipment.

The IEDC said officials will attend SEMICON Taiwan from Sep. 4-6, an event hosted by the international industry association SEMI. That group is bringing an event called SEMIEXPO in the Heartland to Indiana in 2025.

“Partnering with economies like Taiwan that boast high-tech, high-growth economies will provide even more opportunities for innovation and industry advancement,” Rosenberg said in a statement released Tuesday by the IEDC. “This week’s economic development trip to Taiwan and our new IEDC office in Taipei will further solidify new opportunities to grow these sectors and attract robust supply chains in Indiana.”

The state said it has appointed Stewart Randall as its Taiwan adviser, and he will help with the appointment of a Taiwan director. The IEDC said Randall has worked in international business development since 2012 and has extensive knowledge of Asia’s semiconductor industry.

But the agency did not immediately answer questions about whether Randall or the Taiwan director will be working for the state as full-time employees or part-time under contract.

The IEDC also has offices in Italy, Germany, China, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Israel, according to the agency’s website.

In Taiwan, the Indiana delegation will visit the headquarters of MediaTek, which announced in 2022 that it is partnering with Purdue University to create a new semiconductor design center in Indiana. It will also meet the Taipei Computer Association and the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association.

Rosenberg will also visit National Taiwan University and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council.

Representatives of the Applied Research Institute—a not-for-profit group that is administering several federal grants Indiana has received to further high-tech industries—will be part of the delegation.