Taiwan is pouring billions into drones and sea robots to deter China, and the push is now pulling in defense manufacturers from the US, Singapore, and elsewhere — a clear positive for Taiwan's defense buildup and for the companies racing to grab a piece of the contracts.

• Taiwan plans to buy over 1,400 coastal surveillance drones, more than 200,000 coastal attack drones, and over 1,300 one-way attack sea drones, making it the world's largest buyer of these systems right now.
• Lawmakers already approved roughly $8 billion (NT$240 billion) for a law boosting homegrown drone production, with more budget votes expected soon.
• Taiwan wants to build an Asian hub for drones that excludes Chinese parts, leaning on its strength in AI and chipmaking, but it still needs foreign partners with combat-tested software — a US firm, MARTAC, just announced Taiwan's coast guard will buy 25 of its sea drones, built in both countries.
• These sea drones are cheap and fast to build compared to warships, which analysts say makes them a good way to offset Taiwan's shrinking military manpower from its low birth rate and to complicate China's war planning.
• A major challenge ahead is getting all these different drone systems to work together and operate without satellite support like Starlink, which Ukraine has relied on heavily in its war.

Outlook: Expect more Taiwanese defense budget approvals and additional foreign drone-maker partnerships in the coming months as Taiwan races to build out this capability.