The Dominican Republic severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2018 and established diplomatic relations with China. It also missed the opportunity to deepen chip cooperation with Taiwan, a semiconductor powerhouse. Now that the Dominican Republic has been working hard on the chip industry for more than two years, the latest OECD report shows that there are still no semiconductor companies operating in the country, and the chip dream is "eggless." When seeking breakthroughs, the Dominican Republic frequently turns to the United States for cooperation, and the latest one led a delegation to Arizona, a major semiconductor town, to gain experience.
According to comprehensive foreign media reports, the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) issued a press release on August 25 stating that a Dominican government and business delegation visited Arizona from August 24 to 25. The delegation was led by Eduardo Sanz Lovatón, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Small and Medium Enterprises, to communicate with local government, education, business and industry figures.
During the visit, the Dominican Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Small and Medium Enterprises signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOU) with ACA. The scope of cooperation between the two parties covers talent exchange and cultivation, R&D innovation, technology commercialization, supply chain integration and economic cooperation. Among them, strengthening the resilience of the semiconductor supply chain is clearly listed as a focus, and they hope to further expand bilateral trade, investment and industrial cooperation.
The Dominican delegation also visited Arizona State University's MacroTechnology Works during this trip, which focuses on research in the fields of semiconductors, quantum technology and advanced materials. In recent years, Arizona has become an important semiconductor industry cluster in the United States, including TSMC, Intel, Amkor and other companies have established their presence there. The Dominican Republic is heading to Arizona this time, hoping to learn from the experience of local industrial clusters and look for talent, technology, supply chain and investment cooperation opportunities.
In fact, Dominican Republic has been working on its chip dream for more than 2 years. In June 2024, President Luis Abinader issued a policy blueprint, listing the development of the local semiconductor industry as a high national priority and requiring the formulation of a National Semiconductor Industry Promotion Strategy (ENFIS) in an attempt to build Dominica into a competitive, reliable and secure base in the global semiconductor supply chain.
By August 2025, the Dominican Republic officially announced the national semiconductor industry promotion strategy, targeting packaging and testing, PCB, passive components and other fields. It also plans to expand STEM education and technical training, improve the investment environment, and attract international companies to settle in. The strategic content also directly named Taiwan and South Korea as semiconductor manufacturing powers, emphasizing the need to establish cooperation with the world's leading semiconductor companies, governments, and academic institutions.
However, the policy is loud and clear, and it is not easy to truly establish the semiconductor industry. The "Dominican Republic Semiconductor and Microelectronics Industry Development Environment Assessment" released by the OECD this year pointed out that although the Dominican Republic has listed semiconductors as a high-priority national development industry, there are currently no semiconductor companies operating in the country and only a few microelectronics-related companies, indicating that the country is still in the stage of attracting investment, cultivating talents and establishing an industrial ecosystem.
After the Dominican Republic severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it missed opportunities for semiconductor development.
It is worth noting that before the Dominican Republic severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Taiwan had already invested in the development of the local technology industry, including helping to promote the industrial park of the "Caribbean Silicon Valley". After the Dominican Republic established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 2018, Taiwan stopped bilateral cooperation and assistance, and original scientific and technological cooperation was also interrupted.
The Dominican Republic later pursued its chip dream again, but its search for cooperation was obviously directed towards the United States. In early 2024, when Dominican officials went to Washington to solicit investment, they openly invited U.S. technology companies to invest in semiconductors, and even said that "Taiwanese capital is also available." After that, they continued to discuss semiconductor supply chain, talent and technology cooperation with the United States, and now they are directly heading to Arizona to sign a cooperation agreement.
The Dominican Republic broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the semiconductor powerhouse, and turned to China. Now, after more than two years of hard work, the chip dream has not yet materialized. The Dominican Republic has repeatedly turned to the United States in search of breakthroughs. This time, it went straight to Arizona, where major chip manufacturers such as TSMC are clustered, to learn from it.
