Taiwan's opposition KMT is turning a nuclear restart referendum into its main election weapon, framing cheap, steady power as the price of staying in the AI race — good news for pro-nuclear voters and chip-hungry industry, bad news for the ruling DPP.

• Taiwan's election commission cleared only the nuclear restart question for the year-end local elections, rejecting others, and the KMT is protesting that it has no right to pre-screen what voters decide.
• The KMT's pitch: no electricity means no computing power, no AI industry, and no competitiveness — and shutting the nuclear plants left Taiwan leaning on imported natural gas.
• The party plans a hundred rural campaign events plus short-video pushes, tying the referendum to local candidates to boost turnout.
• Opposition unity is cracking — the KMT and TPP failed to agree on a joint candidate in Zhubei, raising doubts about their 2028 prospects.
• Ko Wen-je predicted Taiwan's stock index could break 50,000 as global money floods into AI, while warning that chip progress will eventually hit physical limits.

Outlook: Expect an energy-versus-ideology fight to dominate the campaign, with the referendum result doubling as a verdict on the DPP's power policy.