What we are up to

More than 50 stands visited. Three meetings with groups of Taiwanese entrepreneurs — on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Around 150 contacts. And one hour of sleep on a coach between one meeting and the next.

That was VE S.A. at SEMICON Taiwan 2026, the largest semiconductor industry event in Asia.

The rhythm was simple and relentless: landing in Taipei, a quick dinner, and from the next morning a marathon. The fair before noon, meetings with Taiwanese business in the afternoon. For three days straight.

On the programme: the opening of the Polish pavilion, a meeting with TAITRA on support instruments for European Union companies, the Poland – Taiwan Business Forum on supply chain resilience — organised jointly by the Polish Investment & Trade Agency, the Polish Office in Taipei, TEEMA and SEMI — a B2B session and business dinners hosted by the Polish-Taiwanese Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

Tired, but satisfied. And that is not a courtesy line: the first emails from Taiwanese companies arrived before we had caught up on sleep.

A moment to breathe after coming back — then straight to work. The first concrete step is already done: ve.pl now speaks Traditional Chinese. Not English „for Asia”, but the Taiwan variant — the same one we used on the business cards before departure.

It sounds like a detail. It is not. In Taiwan the difference between 晶片 and 芯片 registers within a second, and it tells the person across the table whether you took them seriously or ran the text through a translator. We tested that with the first business card we handed over.

We come back with a conclusion that sounds obvious until you see it up close: the distance between Poland and Taiwan is smaller in business terms than on the map. That is where the vast majority of the world's most advanced integrated circuits are made. For a company that designs its own electronics — from the circuit board to the cloud — that is not geography. It is the supply chain.

Our thanks to the Marshal's Office of the Łódzkie Region and to the mission organiser. The programme was dense but well ordered — from the preparatory meeting in Poland, through logistics and interpreting, to getting us between appointments. At that pace, organisation is what decides how much can actually be done in a day.

We spent the last day of the mission outside Taipei. At 11:00 the delegation was received at the Taichung City Government — the briefing, held on the ninth floor, was arranged by the Polish-Taiwanese Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The talks covered economic cooperation and investment opportunities on both sides: in Taichung and in the Polish special economic zones. The programme also touched on the Chamber's cooperation with the City of Katowice.

The meeting was followed by a business matching session between Polish and Taiwanese companies, and then by study visits: to Chyun Yow Machinery Industry — a Taiwanese maker of metalworking machines, including CNC machine tools, trading under the George brand — and to a drone factory.

Taichung is one of Taiwan's main centres of machine tool and precision engineering.

The morning began with a meeting at TAITRA, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, which presented the support instruments available to European Union companies entering the Taiwanese market. The fair at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center until 13:00.

In the afternoon, the Poland – Taiwan Business Forum on supply chain resilience, organised jointly by the Polish Investment & Trade Agency, the Polish Office in Taipei, TEEMA and SEMI — presentations by Polish and Taiwanese companies and a B2B session.

In the evening, a business dinner hosted by the Polish-Taiwanese Chamber of Industry and Commerce at the Sheraton Hotel.

We opened the first day of SEMICON Taiwan 2026 by taking part in the opening of the Polish pavilion at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. Meetings on the show floor from 10:00 to 17:00 — a full day of conversations with exhibitors and fellow mission participants.

In the evening, a business dinner hosted by the Polish-Taiwanese Chamber of Industry and Commerce. One theme ran through the whole day: where Polish engineering can enter the Taiwanese supply chain.