《TAIPEI TIMES》 Ukraine drone battery exports rise

A Taiwanese-made drone is displayed in front of the Asia UAV AI Innovation Application R&D Center in Chiayi County on June 25. Photo: CNA

‘GREAT STRIDES’: A technology report said that battery cells and drone modules made in Taiwan are improving, although Chinese dominance in the sector is a concern

By Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA Taiwan is the third-largest battery supplier for Ukraine, a Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology report said.

Another source said that Taiwanese companies are supplying Ukraine with 5 million to 7 million battery cells per month for use in uncrewed aerial vehicles （UAV）.

The institute’s energy resilience division yesterday issued the report, titled Powering resistance: Opportunities and Challenges in Localizing Taiwan’s Drone Battery Supply Chain （驅動抵抗：台灣無人機電池供應鏈自主生產的機會與挑戰）.

Taiwan was Ukraine’s 24th-largest battery supplier in 2019, but became the third-largest by last year, behind only China and Vietnam, the report said, citing Ukrainian State Customs Service data.

As of the first quarter of this year, Taiwan had exported US$11.85 million of batteries to Ukraine.

Taiwan’s battery cell exports to Ukraine were primarily lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide batteries suited for use in Ukraine’s low-temperature environment, especially during its winter, the report said.

While China has long dominated the global drone battery market, Taiwan’s UAV battery industry has made great strides, reducing Taiwanese industry reliance on Chinese battery cells to 50 percent from 70 percent from 2024 to last year, it said.

Taiwanese-manufactured battery cells and modules are improving in capacity and technology, with annual battery cell production at 9.41 gigawatt-hours, it said.

Taiwanese battery modules are leading in sectors such as consumer electronics, the report said.

However, while Taiwan’s output capacity for downstream batteries earned itself a place on the international market, China still has a high degree of dominance over upstream products, such as cathode active material batteries, precursor cathode active material （pCAM） batteries and anode active material batteries, it said, citing China’s dominance in battery-grade metal processing technology.

That dominance enables China to restrain multiple Taiwanese national defense-related companies by throttling exports of processing technologies for battery-grade materials, battery cells and pCAMs, it said.

Taiwan’s non-China manufacturing policy for drone batteries should extend to electrode material manufacturing, or the government should foster domestic production of such materials, which would make Taiwanese products more attractive to buyers in non-China supply chains, the report said.

By standardizing manufacturing standards, Taiwan stands to benefit from entering a high-specification battery market, increasing domestic demand and export shares and creating a more reliable UAV battery supply that reduces reliance on Chinese goods, it added.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES