[Taoyuan·Taichung (Taiwan) = E-Daily Reporter LEE SEON-WOO ] Taiwan, the global hub of the semiconductor industry, is accelerating efforts to strengthen its competitiveness in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sector through infrastructure expansion. This follows the successive openings of exhibition and convention centers, beginning with the former capital, Tainan, in 2022, followed by Taoyuan in 2024, and Taichung this year.
This has established a “MICE belt” stretching from Taipei and Taoyuan in the north, through Taichung in the central region, to Tainan and Kaohsiung in the south. In particular, with centers now established in Taoyuan and Taichung—manufacturing hubs attracting significant investment in semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI)—the regional diversification of MICE demand, which had previously been concentrated in Taipei, is expected to gain momentum.

◇“Messe Taoyuan” Features Taiwan’s Largest Conference Space
“Messe Taoyuan,” which opened in October 2024 in Qingpu, Taoyuan’s new downtown area, is noted for its excellent accessibility to the airport. It is an 18-minute ride via the airport rail link from Taoyuan International Airport, and it takes just 20 minutes by high-speed rail from Taipei Station to reach Taoyuan Station, located near the center.
With a population of approximately 2.36 million, Taoyuan is the fifth-largest of Taiwan’s six special municipalities, but it is the country’s largest manufacturing hub, home to more than one-third of Taiwan’s top 500 manufacturing companies. AI and semiconductor companies such as Guangda, Supermicro, and Micron have established production bases here, and high-tech industrial clusters—including aerospace, logistics, and AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things)—have also taken shape. China Airlines and EVA Air are headquartered here as well.
Messe Taoyuan, which cost approximately 4.6 billion New Taiwan dollars (about 190 billion won) to build, boasts Taiwan’s largest conference space. The combined area of its 16 conference rooms alone totals 11,467 square meters. This is larger than the first-floor exhibition hall (10,168 square meters) and exceeds the meeting space (8,317 square meters) at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (TaiNEX), Taiwan’s largest exhibition venue. The Grand Hall on the 7th floor, the largest meeting space, can accommodate up to 3,200 people at once, while the banquet hall on the 5th floor can accommodate up to 1,800 people.
Frankie Huang, Manager of Messe Taoyuan, explained, “The meeting rooms feature a ‘box-in-box’ structure, where one box is placed inside another within the building, which enhances soundproofing and allows multiple events to be held simultaneously without interfering with one another.”
With the opening of the “Taichung International Exhibition and Convention Center” (TICEC) in March of this year in Taichung—a hub for Central Taiwan’s key industrial clusters, including precision machinery, metal processing, and automotive parts—the final piece of the MICE belt has fallen into place. While Messe Taoyuan specializes in large-scale conferences, TICEC is focused on large-scale industrial exhibitions and trade shows.

With a population of approximately 2.86 million, Taichung is the second-largest of Taiwan’s six special municipalities and serves as the central hub connecting Taipei in the north and Kaohsiung in the south. It is home to a concentration of approximately 4,900 machinery companies—about 35% of Taiwan’s total—and houses semiconductor factories operated by TSMC and Micron. Companies such as Largan Precision, which supplies smartphone camera lenses to Apple, aircraft manufacturer AIDC, and Giant, the world’s largest bicycle brand, also have their headquarters and production facilities here.
Completed after about six years at a cost of approximately 8.9 billion New Taiwan dollars (about 367 billion won), TICEC features 28,483 square meters of indoor exhibition space on the first and fourth floors. The indoor exhibition area is 2.8 times the size of Messe Taoyuan, making it the second-largest in Taiwan after the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. Angela Lin, a manager at the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), explained, “It was designed to withstand a load of up to 5 metric tons per square meter, taking into account the installation of heavy equipment exhibits such as machine tools.”
A project is also underway to construct a second exhibition hall on the western site of the center, with completion targeted for the end of 2030. Fully funded by the central government at a cost of 6 billion New Taiwan dollars (approximately 247 billion won), the second exhibition hall will be built on a site of approximately 37,000 square meters—a scale comparable to COEX in Samseong-dong. Upon completion, TICEC’s total exhibition area will increase to 65,500 square meters—2.3 times its current size—reaching approximately 87% of the size of the largest venue, the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (75,600 square meters).

Both centers are rapidly establishing themselves, delivering tangible results from the very beginning. Messe Taoyuan hosted 16 events by the end of 2024, starting with the “Junior Chamber International (JCI) World Congress” in October 2024—held shortly after its opening—which drew over 3,000 participants from 120 countries. Last year, a total of 81 events were held, including six exhibitions and trade shows—such as the “Asia-Pacific Smart Business Logistics Expo”—and 52 conferences, including the “International Symposium on Regenerative Medicine Materials,” which drew over 5,000 medical professionals from around the world. Cumulative visitor numbers since opening have also surpassed 1 million.
Taichung TICEC surpassed 1.4 million cumulative visitors just four months after beginning trial operations last October. The “Taichung Comprehensive Consumer Goods Expo,” held this past January, drew over 200,000 visitors—four times the expected number. The “Taiwan International Machine Tool Show,” held in March with approximately 1,800 booths, attracted over 73,000 visitors, including buyers from more than 80 countries. Wang Xinting, a project manager at TAITRA, stated, “By the end of this year—the center’s first year of operation—a total of 351 events are scheduled to take place, including 55 exhibitions and trade fairs, 30 events, and 266 conferences.”
◇Expanding the Role of MICE as a Platform for Industry and Partner Connections
Support programs to attract international events are also in place. Through the “MEET TAIWAN” program, the Taiwanese government provides up to 5 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 200 million won) for international conferences and up to 3 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 124 million won) for trade shows. Overseas participants who engage in tourism before or after the event receive 2,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 80,000 won) per person, up to a maximum of 600,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 25 million won) per event. Taoyuan provides support ranging from 200,000 to 2 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 8 million to 80 million won) per event, while Taichung offers up to 300,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 12 million won) for international conferences and up to 1 million New Taiwan dollars (approximately 41 million won) for exhibitions and trade shows.
Zhou Shu-long, Senior Vice President of TAITRA, stated, “With the successive openings of regional exhibition and convention centers, a MICE belt connecting industrial clusters—such as information and communications technology (ICT) in the north, precision and machine tools in the central region, and marine, shipbuilding, and green energy in the south—has been completed.” He added, “We plan to expand the role of the MICE industry as a platform that connects diverse industries and global partners, and brings people and ideas together.”