Interview with Germany’s representative, Eva Langerbeck
Taiwan’s ties with Germany have been flourishing for many years. Recently the relationship reached new heights when TSMC, Taiwan’s star chipmaker, broke ground at its Dresden fab in August. It was the first European venture for the Taiwanese company that makes roughly 90% of the world’s most advanced chips. Our very own FTV reporter Stephany Yang spoke to the new German Trade Representative Eva Langerbeck about Taiwan’s economic ties with Germany. Let’s hear what Langerbeck has to say.
Dr. Eva Langerbeck assumed office in July as the new Chief Representative and Executive Director of German Trade Office Taipei. Langerbeck said one of her main goals is to put more German attention on areas where Taiwan can make a major contribution to Germany’s economy. She pointed to semiconductors.
Eva Langerbeck
German Trade Office Taipei
One of my goals is, of course, number one, increasing the visibility of Taiwan’s strengths of where you can play a vital role for the German economy. One, of course, is semi-conductors, which, thanks to the investment of TSMC, is at the forefront right now. The most successful years were during the COVID years due to the semiconductors, because the demand especially for specialized chips was at an all-time high globally. You can see that in the trade statistics already. When you look at the trade statistics between Germany and Taiwan at the moment, microelectronics and electrical components is still the majority, which I believe is around 30%.
TSMC is currently building a US$11.04 billion fab in Dresden, Germany, in its first expansion into Europe. Production is expected to begin in 2027. Subsidies have been approved by the European Union, and a TSMC delegation visited Germany to familiarize itself with the region and German working culture.
Eva Langerbeck
German Trade Office Taipei
For the TSMC side, of course, there was a groundbreaking ceremony on the 20th of August, which I heard was very successful and was covered extensively in the media. Also, the subsidy has also been approved by the European Union so the project is on track is also what we hear from TSMC. We also had a delegation with Silicon Saxony to Germany for some of the suppliers of TSMC, to introduce them of course to the region and also show them what is on offer: where they could set up companies and also what is the working culture, and so on. And also to ease a bit maybe voices that there could be challenges along the road. This is something we will definitely continue.
Aside from semiconductors, Langerbeck said other areas of collaboration with Taiwan included artificial intelligence, aerospace technologies, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and automation, as well as robotics, health care and renewable energy.
Eva Langerbeck
German Trade Office Taipei
There are other areas where mutual collaboration would be beneficial for both sides. One is artificial intelligence, also automation robotics. The other area would be healthcare, because both of our populations are aging, so that could be pharmaceuticals, biotechnology but also smart healthcare solutions for example. We do have overlap in machinery and also tool manufacturing, because we have a lot of German companies in Taichung, which is the heart of that industry here. And definitely of course also renewable energy. Both of our economy are going through a renewable energy transition at the moment.
Prior to taking up office in Taipei, she earned her Ph.D. in Islamic Studies and worked at the Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Langerbeck said she’s eager to further strengthen bilateral trade ties between Taiwan and Germany.
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2024-09-19
