Taiwan announced plans to establish a new representative office in Phoenix, Arizona, with the stated purpose of expanding cooperation with the United States across economy, technology, education and supply chains. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs framed the move as a response to evolving commercial and technological links between Taiwan and Arizona, noting that the state’s growing role in semiconductor production and related industries has increased the need for closer institutional ties. The new office is intended to support a range of bilateral interactions that span private-sector investment, technical partnerships and educational exchanges aimed at workforce development.
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United States and Taiwan flags fly side by side in Phoenix, Arizona, marking the opening of Taiwan's new office to boost cooperation in high‑tech, education and the semiconductor industry.
The ministry singled out Phoenix as an increasingly important technology center, driven in large part by a wave of Taiwanese investment in the region’s semiconductor ecosystem. That investment pattern has created a cluster effect, bringing suppliers and supporting firms to the area and encouraging deeper commercial integration. Taiwan’s outreach through a local office is presented as a practical step to facilitate those emerging ties and to provide a local institutional presence dedicated to managing and promoting bilateral engagement in high‑technology sectors.
A central element behind the decision is the presence and expansion of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company within Arizona. TSMC, described by the ministry as the world’s largest contract semiconductor manufacturer, has built a significant manufacturing complex in the state that has been instrumental in attracting other Taiwanese companies to establish operations nearby. The ministry highlighted TSMC’s role in anchoring these developments and in prompting additional supply‑chain investment linked to its Arizona operations.
TSMC’s timeline in Arizona was cited in the ministry’s statement: the company’s first Arizona factory entered mass production in the fourth quarter of 2024. Construction of a second factory has been completed, and TSMC expects production at that facility to begin in the second half of 2027. A third factory is currently under construction. These milestones were presented as part of the factual basis for positioning Phoenix as a hub of Taiwanese industrial activity in the United States and for developing closer institutional links between Taipei and Arizona.
Earlier this year, officials from Taiwan and the city of Phoenix signed a memorandum of understanding focused on workforce development and advanced industries. The agreement, according to the ministry, aims to train highly skilled personnel and expand cooperation in sectors driven by artificial intelligence. That memorandum is cited as a concrete example of the kind of collaborative activity the new representative office would support, linking education and training initiatives to the needs of employers and to broader industrial cooperation.
The ministry did not set a specific opening date for the Phoenix office in its announcement. Once operational, the Phoenix location will become Taiwan’s 14th representative office in the United States. It will join existing Taiwanese offices in Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Chicago, Honolulu, Denver, Miami and Guam, completing a network designed to manage diplomatic, economic and cultural relations across multiple U.S. regions.
The American Institute in Taiwan welcomed the decision to open the Phoenix office, characterizing it as evidence of the strength, depth and sustainable development of the United States–Taiwan partnership. The institute noted Arizona’s emergence as a dynamic hub for Taiwan’s high‑technology industry in the United States, saying the state is drawing more supply‑chain companies and reinforcing bilateral cooperation in semiconductors and other cutting‑edge technologies. The ministry’s announcement frames the forthcoming office as a localized mechanism to coordinate those growing ties in commerce, technology, education and supply‑chain integration.
The U.S. Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs welcomed the new Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, stating it will support robust economic and people-to-people ties between Taiwan and the U.S. Sun Belt. Taiwan has appointed Kevin Chiao, a former senior aide to the foreign minister, as its first representative there, according to the Taipei Times.
Taiwan opened a Taiwan Trade and Investment Service Center in Phoenix on May 2, 2026; Economics Minister Kung Ming‑hsin presided over the ceremony and said the center — Taiwan’s second such U.S. facility after Dallas — is intended to help Taiwanese firms expand into the U.S., participate in local manufacturing and strengthen supply‑chain resilience, and his delegation also visited TSMC’s Arizona fab.
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) led a delegation of 81 Taiwanese companies to Arizona in late April/early May 2026, during which it and Arizona partners signed a strategic memorandum on cross‑border AI innovation and investment and TAITRA said it will establish a one‑stop Taiwan Trade and Investment Service Center in Phoenix to support investment, AI collaboration and market entry.
MOFA’s announcement was posted on July 3, 2026 and says preparatory work for the Phoenix representative office is underway; the ministry added the office will provide more convenient consular services for Taiwanese nationals, businesses and overseas communities in Arizona and neighboring New Mexico. Separately, the Executive Yuan has approved Kevin Chiao as Taiwan’s first representative to Phoenix — Chiao most recently served as deputy secretary‑general of the Taiwan Council for U.S. Affairs and was a senior aide to the foreign minister.