Taiwan reshuffles its cabinet and names Kung Ming-hsin, a former member of the TSMC board, as the new economy minister
Taiwan makes Kung Ming-hsin, a former member of the TSMC board, economy minister and gives him charge of the country’s plan for trade, energy, and semiconductors.
After Kuo Jyh-huei quit for health reasons, Taiwan chose Kung Ming-hsin, a former board member of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), to be its new economy minister. This is part of a larger change of the Cabinet that was announced on Tuesday.
Mr. Kung is currently the Cabinet secretary-general. He used to be on the board of TSMC as a representative of the government’s National Development Fund, which gave him close ties to the world’s biggest contract chipmaker.
The Cabinet said in a statement that Mr. Kung will “steer the nation’s overall economic strategy (and) lay the groundwork for the next phase of Taiwan’s industrial, trade, and economic infrastructure development.” A lot of people were looking forward to his appointment after local media started speculating about his possible rise a few days ago.
It is very important for the economy minister to keep an eye on Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, make sure that sensitive technologies don’t get to countries like China or Russia, and set energy policy.
Before he quit last week, Mr. Kuo was a top executive at Topco Scientific, a company that supplied TSMC. In May 2024, he started working for President Lai Ching-te’s new administration. However, things were hard because opposition parties in parliament had a majority and were blocking government laws, passing their own bills, and imposing big budget cuts.
Mr. Kuo also helped Taiwan come up with a reaction to a 20% tariff that former US President Donald Trump put on Taiwanese exports. This policy still has a big impact on trade strategy.
New appointments were made in the ministries of health and digital affairs, among other changes to the Cabinet that were revealed Tuesday. Lee Yang, who won an Olympic gold medal in badminton, will be in charge of Taiwan’s new sports ministry, which will be officially set up in September.
