Taiwan's president told local manufacturers a long-delayed industrial zoning plan will finally clear review this year, good news for small factories in Changhua that have waited since 2018.

• Lai Ching-te said the Interior Ministry's urban planning committee will finish reviewing the Changhua water-hardware production cluster plan before the end of the year.
• The plan covers a large stretch of land and would fix roads, sewage, and long-running land-use problems for the faucet and valve makers clustered there.
• Local officials have been shuttling revised versions back and forth since last October, with the latest sent to the ministry in August.
• The AI boom is lifting Taiwan's chip and server business, and traditional factories are being urged to plug into that supply chain.
• Taiwan is also pushing drones, betting that countries building "non-red" supply chains to avoid cheap Chinese goods will favor a democracy that respects patents.

Outlook: Approval is expected by December, opening the way for construction and upgrades at the site.