00:00The Strait of Hormuz, act stand still, it's a key water way for oil trade, cut off amid the U
00:07.S.-Israeli war with Iran, for countries that rely on imported energy, this is alarming, and Taiwan, a global chip hub
00:15is one of them.
00:40An energy shortage in Taiwan could lead to hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars in losses, and it could
00:47also disrupt Taiwan's critical AI and semiconductor supply chains.
00:51That's because most of Taiwan's energy is imported.
01:05Taiwan imports around 96 percent of its energy, while the remainder comes from domestic renewable sources.
01:13Among its imported energy, oil accounts for around half, while coal and natural gas each account for around one quarter.
01:20Taiwan gets around 70 percent of its oil from the Middle East, and about 30 percent of its natural gas
01:26from Qatar alone.
01:28Though 30 percent may not seem like much, natural gas accounts for over 50 percent of Taiwan's electricity supply.
01:35With industries using more than half, and the tech sector, Taiwan's main export and economic driver consumes about a quarter
01:44of that.
01:44The rest is mainly used by traditional industries like machinery.
02:06And oil is also crucial to detect sector.
02:10Industry insiders say the war in the Middle East is driving up costs, and already taking us all.
02:15Many companies say, we're going to stop the supply chain.
02:20And we're going to wait until the oil is stable.
02:23And we're going to start to get back to the market.
02:25And we're going to start to get back to the market.
02:27And we're going to start to get back to the market.
02:42But some say Taiwan's energy supply is vulnerable, after it closed its final nuclear power plant last year.
03:04Taiwan will review its nuclear power plant restart plan and reassess its electricity prices by the end of March as
03:11scheduled.
03:11The government says Taiwan has over three months of oil reserves and around 11 days of natural gas.
03:18Gas supplies are secure through April, with efforts ongoing to lock in shipments from May.
03:24It also says it will increase imports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S.
03:28and continue absorbing most of any price hikes.
03:31Still, if war in the Middle East drags on, it will keep putting pressures on Taiwan's cost of living and
03:38its supply chains.
03:39Ryan Wu, NIT for Taiwan Plus.
Comments