Taiwan helps ally Guatemala pursue its first chip, while former diplomatic partners chase the same dream

Guatemala is turning its semiconductor ambitions into a concrete project with Taiwan’s help. A team from the Universidad del Valle has developed “El Gran Jaguar,” the country’s first domestically designed nan chip. The chip has entered the verification stage and is expected to use a 65-nanometer process and TSMC technology for production.

The project grows out of a broader partnership. Guatemala’s government launched the “Ruta del Chip,” or Chip Route, while Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute analyzed opportunities for developing a local semiconductor industry at Guatemala’s request. The two sides signed a semiconductor cooperation memorandum in 2025 covering foreign investment, supply-chain resilience, research and development, training and technical assistance.

The article highlights the contrast with Latin American countries that broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan and switched recognition to China. Costa Rica, which ended ties with Taiwan in 2007, already has a semiconductor base that includes Intel and is seeking to expand its chip cluster. Its investment and export promotion agency, PROCOMER, confirmed that officials had traveled to Taiwan to meet at least eight semiconductor companies and seek investment.

Panama, which switched diplomatic recognition in 2017, sent a bipartisan congressional delegation to Taiwan in July. Panamanian media described the visit as an effort to seek semiconductor investment. The delegation wants to develop Panama into a semiconductor logistics hub and proposed establishing a business office. Panama also introduced a national advanced technology agenda covering artificial intelligence, microelectronics and semiconductors, and joined the US-led Pax Silica initiative.

The Dominican Republic, which ended ties with Taiwan in 2018, has declared semiconductors a high national priority and released a national industry strategy in 2025. But an OECD report said in March that no semiconductor companies currently operate in the country and that only a few microelectronics firms are present. El Salvador, another country that switched ties in 2018, has also joined Pax Silica. The article notes that its former president, Elías Antonio Saca, visited TSMC in 2006, when the two sides discussed a proposed Taiwan Park.

As chips become a new geopolitical bargaining tool, countries that once turned away from Taiwan are again seeking its semiconductor expertise and investment. Guatemala, meanwhile, has moved through bilateral cooperation from talent development toward designing a domestic chip.