Taiwan's legislature is fighting over how to fund a homegrown military drone industry, and manufacturers say only a long-term budget will get them to invest.

• Drone makers back the Cabinet's plan for a special multi-year budget instead of yearly reviews.
• Building factories, production lines, and trained staff takes years, so annual funding decisions make companies afraid to commit money.
• Steady, large government orders would also pull parts suppliers into making components in Taiwan instead of importing them.
• The opposition KMT wants yearly budget reviews, which industry says can work only if the rules stay the same year to year.
• Carbon-Based Technology plans a plant in the Minsyong aerospace park in Chiayi County, and Thunder Tiger says small suppliers need the certainty most.

Outlook: Lawmakers are still negotiating between the rival bills, and the funding structure they pick will decide whether Taiwan can build wartime drone production at scale.