Taiwan is now seriously considering an accelerated restart of its Maanshan nuclear power plant to confront a looming power crunch driven by its world-leading technology sector.
The primary driver behind this urgency is the explosive growth in electricity demand from the AI and semiconductor industries. Taipower, the state-owned utility, projects that semiconductor-related power consumption alone will surpass 5 gigawatts by 2030. With giants like TSMC expanding capacity to meet demand from companies like Nvidia, Taiwan's grid is under unprecedented pressure. This "load shock" from energy-intensive chip fabrication and AI data centers is forcing a fundamental rethink of the island's energy strategy.
This policy shift didn't happen overnight, though. The first crucial step was a legal change in May 2025, when Taiwan's legislature passed a law allowing nuclear plants to renew their operating licenses. This reversed the previous "nuclear-free" policy and created the legal pathway for restarting decommissioned plants like Maanshan. Without this legislative action, any discussion of a restart would be purely academic.
Beyond the legal framework, two powerful forces are at play: economic necessity and national security. First, to maintain its dominance in the global semiconductor supply chain, Taiwan must provide stable, abundant power for its foundries. Second, the island is heavily reliant on imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), with only about 10-11 days of reserve storage. This creates a significant strategic vulnerability. Nuclear power offers a solution to both issues by providing a reliable, low-carbon baseload energy source with months of fuel stored on-site.
The most recent development came in March 2026, when Taiwan's Economics Minister signaled a major acceleration in the restart timeline. Previously, the earliest possible restart was seen as 2028. However, the minister stated that with independent safety inspections already underway, the timeline "can be shortened" to as early as 2027 if equipment aging is found to be limited. This is a clear signal that the government is moving with a new sense of urgency. The final timeline now hinges on the results of these technical assessments.
- Baseload Power: The minimum level of electricity demand on a power grid over a period of 24 hours. Baseload power plants are those that operate continuously to meet this demand.
- LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas): Natural gas that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport.
- Gigawatt (GW): A unit of power equal to one billion watts. It is often used to measure the output of large power plants.