Guide · 2026/03 · Updated 2026 / 08 / 15

2026 Taiwan Government Grants for SME AI & Digital Transformation: The Plain-English Guide

Q: Do these grants pay upfront, or do you claim reimbursement afterward?

Almost all of them work the same way: get approved first, spend next, then claim the money back (reimbursement means you pay first, hand in the receipts, and the government pays you back). You must register online, pass the eligibility review, and get approval or credits before you buy anything or start training. If a receipt is dated before your approval date, it usually gets rejected.

Q: Is it better to apply yourself or get a consultant's help?

If you are familiar with writing proposals and clear on the eligibility and process, you can apply on your own. If you are unsure which program to choose, or how to turn your AI-adoption needs into something the reviewers will approve, a consultant raises your approval odds. PCIRCLE provides full support from assessment to submission.

Want to adopt AI, but get a headache the moment you hear “government grant”? Endless program names, different agencies for each, application forms you can’t decode — many owners just give up.

In reality, for 2026 the AI and digital-transformation grants aimed at SMEs come down to just nine. Once you see who each one funds, how much, and where to apply, it’s simpler than you think. This guide pulls the official data into a single table, cites the source for every figure, and saves you from digging through government website after government website.

It also tells you which ones are still open. The infuriating part of grant hunting is finding a programme that fits, preparing the paperwork, and only then discovering the intake closed last year. Every status in the table below was checked against the administering agency’s own announcement on 15 August 2026.

This guide is written for the owners and operations managers of Taiwan’s small and medium enterprises — no technical background needed. Every piece of “Taiwan AI government grants” information here comes from official announcements by bodies such as the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Labor. If amounts or deadlines change, the official announcement for that year always takes precedence.

Which government grants can Taiwan SMEs use to adopt AI?

For 2026 there are nine main government grants for SMEs adopting AI. As of 15 August 2026, five are still open: the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Program (R&D funding, year-round), the Industrial Development Administration’s Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion cloud-solution credit subsidy (manufacturers buying ready-made cloud tools, until 29 Sep 2026), the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration’s AI Toolbox credit subsidy (manufacturers buying AI tools, until 30 Oct 2026), the Industrial Competitiveness Advisory Team (19+1) (free diagnosis, year-round), and the Ministry of Labor’s Industrial Talent Investment Program (on-the-job training, year-round).

Three others depend on timing: the Industrial Development Administration’s Smart Machinery — Industrial Cluster Supply-Chain Digital Streaming and AI Application plan announces an intake window each year, while the Digital Transformation Capacity-Building Subsidies for manufacturers and for service businesses with 30 or fewer employees are closed for this round and await a new announcement. The eligible applicants, amounts, and uses differ, and you can combine them to fit your needs.

Why the grants are so hard to understand

The problem isn’t that there’s too little funding — it’s that the information is too scattered. SBIR sits under the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs; smart machinery sits under the Industrial Development Administration; talent training sits under the Ministry of Labor. Every portal looks different.

Many owners get stuck in three places: not knowing whether they “count as an SME,” not knowing which program to pick, and not knowing the order of the process. The most common — and most fatal — mistake is buying first or taking the course first, and only thinking about applying afterward.

Almost every digital-transformation and capacity-building grant follows the same standard flow: “register online first → pass the eligibility review → only after obtaining credits or approval do you start purchasing or training.” If an invoice is dated before the approval date, it is almost always rejected (source: Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, MOEA — Digital Transformation Zone). Keep this one point in mind; the whole guide revolves around it.

2026 SME AI grants at a glance

The table below lays out the nine main programs, with the ones still open listed first. Amounts are the official announced caps; actual funding depends on the review outcome.

The status column is the result of opening each administering agency’s announcement on 15 August 2026 and reading it. Grant rounds expire, so rather than say “check that year’s announcement” — advice that can never be wrong and is never useful — the dates found on the day are printed below. Past them, go back to the official site for the next round.

Grant program	Lead agency	Eligible applicants	Main use	Funding cap	Status (checked 2026-08-15)
SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Program	Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, MOEA	SMEs with capital of NT$100 million or less, or fewer than 200 employees	Innovative R&D in AI, autonomous vehicles, net-zero, etc.	Preliminary research NT$1.5M / R&D NT$12M / Value-added NT$6M (raised from 2026, individual application)^[1]	Open, accepted year-round
Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion — Cloud Solution Credit Subsidy	Industrial Development Administration, MOEA (delivered by the China Productivity Center)	Small and mid-sized manufacturers with factory registration	Purchasing listed cloud solutions (CRM, POS, AI tools, etc.)	Up to 50,000 digital credits per firm (1 credit = NT$1, offsetting at most half the service fee)^[2]	Open until 29 Sep 2026, 17:30; closes early if credits run out^[2]
AI Toolbox Credit Subsidy	Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, MOEA (delivered by the Plastics Industry Development Center)	Manufacturers with factory registration, capital of NT$100 million or less or fewer than 200 employees	Buying AI solutions that address production and operations bottlenecks	Digital credits per the announcement, spent on the Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion platform^[3]	Open until 30 Oct 2026, 17:30^[3]
Industrial Competitiveness Advisory Team (19+1)	MOEA (cross-administration integration)	SMEs	One-stop advisory on AI adoption, talent, financing, market, and technology	Integrated advisory resources, including talent-training subsidy; amount per announcement^[5]	Open, online form, year-round
Industrial Talent Investment Program	Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor	Employed workers with labor- and employment-insurance status	On-the-job courses in AI, automation, etc.	80% of training fees subsidized (100% for specific groups), up to NT$100,000 over 3 years^[6]	Open, register via Taiwan Jobs
Smart Machinery — Industrial Cluster Supply-Chain Digital Streaming and AI Application	Industrial Development Administration, MOEA	Small and medium manufacturers with consolidated revenue of NT$3 billion or less (or NT$10 billion or less as a selected mid-tier enterprise)	Supply-chain data integration, AI application adoption	Preliminary advisory planning NT$5M / system build-out & adoption NT$30M^[4]	2026 guidelines announced; intake window is announced each year — check the current one before submitting^[4]
Succession-and-AI Digital Transformation for SME Manufacturers (thematic R&D grant)	Industrial Development Administration, MOEA (delivered by the China Productivity Center)	SME manufacturers with a succession plan, consolidated annual revenue of NT$2 billion or less (NT$10 billion for a selected mid-tier enterprise), factory registration, not Chinese-funded	Rebuilding the business model around AI while handing the company over	Up to NT$8 million per case, and no more than 50% of total project cost^[9]	This round closed: 2026 intake ended 27 Apr 2026 17:30^[9]
Digital Transformation Capacity-Building Subsidy — Manufacturing (30 or fewer employees)	Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, MOEA	Manufacturers with 30 or fewer insured employees (ROC nationals)	Staff digital-skills training + software adoption	Up to NT$100,000 per firm and NT$10,000 per trained ROC-national employee^[7]	This round closed: applications ended 31 Dec 2025 17:00; training and claims were due 31 Mar 2026^[7]
Digital Transformation Capacity-Building Subsidy — Service Industries (30 or fewer employees)	Department of Commerce, MOEA	Service firms with 30 or fewer insured employees (ROC nationals)	Staff digital-skills training + software adoption	Up to NT$10,000 per employee, NT$100,000 per firm^[8]	This round closed: same 2025 round, awaiting a new announcement^[8]

Source numbers correspond to the “Sources” list at the end.

The main grant programs, one by one

1. SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Program — the R&D funding heavyweight

If what you’re building is an AI project with a genuine “innovative R&D” element, SBIR is the largest-amount option. The lead agency is the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, MOEA, and eligible applicants are SMEs with capital of NT$100 million or less, or fewer than 200 employees.

From January 1, 2026 (ROC year 115), SBIR raised its caps across the board. For an individual application, preliminary research (Phase 1) is capped at NT$1.5 million, R&D (Phase 2) at NT$12 million, and value-added application (Phase 2+) at NT$6 million, with a new patent-application fee subsidy added (source: MOEA announcement, reposted by the Industrial Development Administration; Economic Daily News report). For 2026 it targets three core domains: AI smart applications, autonomous-vehicle applications, and net-zero applications — AI adoption fits right in.

2. Digital Transformation Capacity-Building Subsidy (30 or fewer employees) — the entry-level option for small teams (manufacturing & service tracks)

For small companies with 30 or fewer employees, this is the lowest-barrier option. It splits into two tracks by sector: manufacturers apply through the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, while service businesses apply through the Department of Commerce. Eligibility, uses, and amounts are nearly identical, and the owner (employer) is also included as an eligible recipient.

A single firm can receive up to NT$100,000, and both the manufacturing and service tracks also cap it at NT$10,000 per trained ROC-national employee, used for “talent-training courses” plus “accompanying software use,” with training requiring at least 12 cumulative hours (sources: Guidelines for the Digital Transformation Capacity-Building Subsidy for Manufacturers with 30 or Fewer Employees, the MOEA subsidy zone, and the Guidelines for the equivalent Service Industry subsidy). The programme’s focus is “teach the people first, then pair the tools” — well suited to small teams that haven’t yet adopted any digital system.

But this round is closed. Checked on 15 August 2026, the guidelines state applications were accepted until 17:00 on 31 December 2025, and that training had to be completed and evidence submitted by 31 March 2026. Both dates have passed and no 2026 round has been announced yet. If you want to catch the next one, following the two administrations’ announcement pages is the practical move; in the meantime, manufacturers wanting off-the-shelf tools should look at the credit schemes in points 3 and 4 below.

3. Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion credits — manufacturers buying ready-made cloud tools

If you don’t want custom R&D and just want to buy off-the-shelf cloud software (like CRM customer management, POS ordering, or small AI tools), this is the most direct route.

First, something many articles have not updated: the general Taiwan Cloud Marketplace TCloud credit subsidy, open to all small, medium and micro enterprises, is over. Its “About this programme” page now reads “in response to the programme ending and policy adjustment, this website’s services will be adjusted accordingly” (checked 15 August 2026, source: Taiwan Cloud Marketplace). If you see “TCloud, up to 30,000 credits, 80% subsidized” elsewhere, that is old information — there is no longer an entry point to look for.

The programme still issuing credits is the manufacturing-only Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion. For 2026 it is run by the Industrial Development Administration and delivered by the China Productivity Center: each eligible small or mid-sized manufacturer receives up to 50,000 digital credits, where 1 credit equals NT$1 and credits can offset at most half the service fee. Eligibility centres on being a manufacturer with legal factory registration, paid-in capital of NT$100 million or less or fewer than 200 employees, and not Chinese-funded. Applications run from the announcement date until 17:30 on 29 September 2026, closing earlier if the credits run out (source: Industrial Development Administration, 2026 Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion Cloud Solution Credit Subsidy announcement).

Note that this programme states in writing that firms which already received the low-carbon / smart upgrade subsidy, the succession digital-transformation subsidy, the C2M subsidy, or the Smart Machinery Supply-Chain AI Application Plan in the same year, or have not yet closed those out, may not apply.

Service businesses have no equivalent credit scheme, but the sub-30-staff service subsidy in point 2 above can likewise be spent on software.

4. AI Toolbox Credit Subsidy — manufacturers buying AI tools (new for 2026)

This one only opened for 2026, and it is the most directly aimed at AI adoption of anything in this guide: it encourages small and mid-sized manufacturers to use AI to clear bottlenecks in production and in day-to-day operations, purchased through the same Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion platform.

The lead agency is the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, delivered by the Plastics Industry Development Center. Eligibility is close to the previous entry — manufacturing only, legal factory registration, paid-in capital of NT$100 million or less or fewer than 200 regular employees, not Chinese-funded, and no major breach, tax arrears, or serious legal violation in the past three years. Applications run from the announcement date until 17:30 on 30 October 2026 (source: 2026 AI Toolbox Credit Subsidy announcement).

The credit allowance and how much of a purchase it offsets follow the announcement, so read the guidelines before submitting. Read them for one more thing too: whether these credits can be combined with the Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion credits in the same year. Credit schemes like these usually carry exclusion clauses, and you do not want to discover one after buying.

5. Smart Machinery — Industrial Cluster Supply-Chain Digital Streaming and AI Application (upgrade for manufacturers)

For manufacturers doing smart supply-chain integration and AI adoption, this is the flagship program from the Industrial Development Administration, executed by the China Productivity Center. The 2026 application guidelines have been announced, and the plan now goes by the name “Smart Machinery — Industrial Cluster Supply-Chain Digital Streaming and AI Application.”

Eligible applicants are small and medium manufacturers established under the Company Act with consolidated revenue of NT$3 billion or less (or those with revenue of NT$10 billion or less that pass the “mid-tier enterprise” selection). The cap on government funding per case: preliminary advisory planning NT$5 million, system build-out and adoption NT$30 million (source: SME Carbon-Reduction Service Station, reposting the Industrial Development Administration announcement).

This one has an intake window; it is not open all year. The reposted announcement above gives an intake period of 5 March to 18 April 2025, which belongs to the previous year’s round. The 2026 round has its own guidelines, with dates per the current announcement on the Industrial Development Administration bulletin board. The amounts are large, and so are the supply-chain integration projects they correspond to — worth preparing early.

6. Industrial Competitiveness Advisory Team (19+1) — get a free diagnosis first

If you’re still unsure which one to apply for — or even unsure whether you should adopt AI at all — start here. The 19+1 is the MOEA’s single entry point that integrates advisory resources from multiple bodies, including the Industrial Development Administration, the Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration, the Department of Industrial Technology, and the Ministry of Labor.

Its value lies in “sending an advisor to your company first, for a free diagnosis and an adoption-recommendation report,” then helping match you with follow-on resources for AI adoption, talent training, financing, and more (source: MOEA Industrial Competitiveness Advisory Team official site, hotline 0800-023-800). The easiest way to understand it is as the “switchboard” for the grant programs.

7. Industrial Talent Investment Program — send your employees to upskill

This one subsidizes not the company but the “people.” The host agency is the Workforce Development Agency, Ministry of Labor, and eligible recipients are employed workers with labor-insurance, employment-insurance, and similar status.

General workers get 80% of training fees subsidized; specific groups (low-income households, Indigenous people, people with disabilities, middle-aged and older workers, etc.) get 100%, with each trainee receiving up to NT$100,000 over 3 years (source: Ministry of Labor Industrial Talent Investment Program regulations). The courses include plenty of AI and automation topics, and employees simply register on “Taiwan Jobs (Taiwan Employment Connection)” themselves.

8. Succession-and-AI Digital Transformation for SME Manufacturers (large, but tied to succession)

The second-largest amount in this guide, with the most specific condition attached: it is only for SME manufacturers that have a succession plan. The guidelines define that as a successor who took over within three years before the announcement, or who is lined up to.

Government funding is capped at NT$8 million per case and at 50% of total project cost — you fund the other half — over a project of at most one year. Eligibility: company or business registration, manufacturing only with factory registration, not Chinese-funded, consolidated annual revenue of NT$2 billion or less (NT$10 billion if you are a selected mid-tier enterprise). The proposal must incorporate at least one AI technology and wire it into the new business model (source: Industrial Development Administration 2026 guidelines, PDF).

The 2026 round closed at 17:30 on 27 April 2026. For a family firm mid-handover that also wants to rebuild operations around AI, this is one of the few programmes that treats succession and digital transformation as the same project — worth watching for the next intake.

A note: one “advisory” programme is not something you apply for

The Small and Medium Enterprise and Startup Administration also runs Industry AI Adoption Advisory under its SME Smart Operations programme. The name reads like a grant; the structure is different. One SME applies as the proposing organisation, and a single case has to bring in 60 to 100 companies. The advisory fee is NT$35,000 per company (tax included), capped at NT$3.5 million per case.

In other words, the money goes to whoever does the advising, not to you. Your role is one of the companies being advised — it costs you nothing, but you do not submit anything either; the proposing organisation recruits you. Eligibility for that side: an SME that has not taken part in two consecutive years of the administration’s advisory programmes within the last five (source: SME Administration 2026 guidelines, PDF).

Proposals closed at 17:00 on 10 March 2026. It is listed here because it gets mistaken for a grant, and mistaking it costs you time hunting for an application door that does not open to you.

The three traps people fall into before applying

Trap 1: Doing it first, claiming later. As noted above, this is the number-one reason applications get rejected. Any purchase or course must wait until you’ve been approved and obtained credits; the invoice date cannot be earlier than the approval date.

Trap 2: Getting your SME status wrong. Most programs use the standard “capital of NT$100 million or less, or fewer than 200 employees.” Manufacturing has additional revenue thresholds, so confirm it clearly before applying — don’t spend ages preparing only to find you don’t qualify.

Trap 3: Assuming you can only apply for one at a time — or the reverse, that everything stacks. Most programs can be combined as long as the uses don’t conflict: use the sub-30-staff digital-transformation subsidy to train staff, and SBIR if you need R&D. But some programmes rule stacking out themselves: the Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion announcement lists the low-carbon / smart upgrade subsidy, the succession digital-transformation subsidy, the C2M subsidy and the Smart Machinery Supply-Chain AI Application Plan as disqualifying in the same year. Read that announcement’s eligibility section before you plan a combination.

How to apply, and whether to get help

Honestly, the most time-consuming part of these programs isn’t “filling in the form” — it’s the part before that: judging which program matches your needs, confirming eligibility, and turning “what AI to adopt” into a plan the reviewers can understand. Write it poorly and no amount of funding will land.

This is exactly what PCIRCLE does. We start with a free AI-adoption assessment, first clarifying which program fits your decision pain points, then walking you through writing the proposal all the way to submission — full support from assessment to submission. More importantly, an AI-adoption project run with PCIRCLE can itself be planned to qualify for a grant application, so adoption and funding are discussed together, not as two separate things.

To compare the details of each program side by side, see our government grants resource page; to learn about our full AI-adoption service flow from diagnosis to scaled rollout, or to book a free assessment to talk through your grant and adoption planning, we’ll work out which programs are worth applying for.

Want someone to handle it and improve your odds? PCIRCLE prepares the whole application with you — eligibility, proposal writing, submission, and the review presentation — so you can focus on your business while we handle the complicated paperwork. See our grant-funding service.

FAQ

Which government grants can Taiwan SMEs use to adopt AI? This guide covers nine. Checked against the administering agencies’ own announcements on 15 August 2026, five are still open: SBIR (R&D, year-round), the Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion credit subsidy (manufacturers, until 29 Sep 2026), the AI Toolbox credit subsidy (manufacturers, until 30 Oct 2026), the Industrial Competitiveness Advisory Team 19+1 (year-round), and the Industrial Talent Investment Program (year-round). The Smart Machinery supply-chain AI plan announces its intake window each year. The succession-and-AI grant for SME manufacturers (2026 intake closed 27 Apr 2026) and the two Digital Transformation Capacity-Building Subsidies for firms with 30 or fewer employees are all closed and await new announcements. You can combine them as long as the same expense is not subsidized twice. Note: the general TCloud credit subsidy is over; the programmes still issuing credits are the manufacturing-only Industrial Pavilion and AI Toolbox.

Do these grants pay upfront, or do you claim reimbursement afterward? Almost all of them follow “approval first, execute next, claim reimbursement last.” You must complete online registration, pass the eligibility review, and obtain approval or credits before you start purchasing or training; an invoice dated before the approval date is usually rejected.

How many employees counts as an SME? The common standard is paid-in capital of NT$100 million or less, or fewer than 200 employees. Some manufacturing programs add a consolidated-revenue threshold (for example, NT$3 billion or less for the smart machinery plan); check that program’s official announcement before applying.

What is the SBIR 2026 grant cap? From January 1, 2026 (ROC year 115) the caps were raised: for an individual application, preliminary research up to NT$1.5 million, R&D up to NT$12 million, and value-added application up to NT$6 million, plus a new patent-application fee subsidy. R&D consortia (several firms applying jointly as one team) have higher caps.

Can these grants be applied for at the same time? Yes, as long as the same expense is not subsidized twice. A common combination is to train staff with the sub-30-staff digital-transformation subsidy and apply for SBIR when you have R&D needs; manufacturers can also buy cloud tools with Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion credits. Note that the Industrial Pavilion announcement lists several other subsidies, including the Smart Machinery Supply-Chain AI Application Plan, as disqualifying in the same year. It’s best to run an overall diagnosis with the 19+1 advisory team first, then plan.

Is it better to apply yourself or get a consultant’s help? If you’re familiar with writing proposals and clear on the eligibility and process, you can apply on your own. If you’re unsure which program to choose, or how to turn your AI-adoption needs into something the reviewers will approve, a consultant raises your approval odds; PCIRCLE provides full support from assessment to submission.

Closing thoughts

A grant isn’t about “more is better” — it’s about “pick right, write right, order right.” Understanding what these nine programs each fund, using the free 19+1 diagnosis to clarify your needs first, then choosing one or two that match to apply for, is far more effective than scattering applications blindly.

Two dates are worth putting in the calendar: Cloud Market Industrial Pavilion credits close at 17:30 on 29 September 2026, and AI Toolbox credits at 17:30 on 30 October 2026. Both state in writing that they close early once the credits are gone. For a manufacturer planning to buy off-the-shelf AI tools with credits, early beats late.

For 2026, the SBIR cap has already been raised to as much as NT$12 million, and AI application is exactly the core domain the grants target — the opportunity is there; all that’s missing is stating your needs clearly. The next step is simple: book a free PCIRCLE AI-adoption assessment and let us help you judge which grant is worth applying for and how to plan adoption and funding together. All amounts and deadlines are ultimately subject to that year’s official announcement.

Sources

Numbers match the ^[n] markers in the table above. Every one was reopened and re-read on 15 August 2026; the amounts, deadlines and eligibility here are what those pages said that day.

Compiled from the official sources above. Grant amounts, ratios and application periods are adjusted each year, and the competent authority’s current announcement always governs. The “Updated” date at the top of this page is when that check was done.

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