Behind this gesture lies a rare example of how the artificial intelligence boom is already translating into concrete budget figures today, rather than remaining an abstract technological trend.

The gist in brief

• The Taiwanese government will allocate NT$235.7 billion (about $7.4 billion) for a one-time payment to every citizen — while keeping the budget balanced, with no increase in national debt.
• Taiwan's economic growth in the first half of 2026 reached 14.15% — the best figure for this period in half a century, with the annual forecast raised to 11.05%, a 39-year high.
• The president directly linked this growth to the semiconductor industry, ICT, and production chains — global demand for AI, high-performance computing, and cloud services is driving orders, exports, and investment.
• Next year, NT$229.2 billion will be allocated to technology programs (+12.7% from this year), of which NT$40.6 billion will go toward "10 new major AI infrastructure projects."

How AI translates into budget figures

The mechanism described by the Taiwanese government is straightforward: global demand for chips, computing power, and cloud services for AI models directly accelerates orders for Taiwanese semiconductor and technology companies, and with them — exports, investment, and ultimately tax revenues. Projected central government revenues for the coming year have been raised to NT$3.9266 trillion precisely on the basis of an upwardly revised growth forecast. In addition to the one-time payment, an extra NT$100 billion over eight years will go toward expanded financing, investment tax incentives, and helping companies gain access to computing resources for AI.

Infrastructure as a priority on par with defense

Notably, "Smart Nation 2.0" and support for modernizing small and medium-sized businesses is just one of five budget priorities, alongside family policy, defense, regional infrastructure, and support for local budgets. Defense spending will exceed 3% of GDP for the first time, reaching NT$1.12 trillion, while infrastructure — railways, roads, water supply, sewage, and flood protection — will receive NT$728.8 billion. This shows that technological growth in the Taiwanese model does not displace traditional budget items but coexists with them, funded by the overall expansion of the economy.

Why this matters for Kazakhstan

The Taiwanese case is a vivid, albeit far more mature, example of what many countries, including Kazakhstan, which is betting on artificial intelligence infrastructure, are striving for. Kazakhstan is still at a much earlier stage: a "Data Center Valley" is being built in Ekibastuz, the creation of another tech hub — Network City in Burabai — is under discussion, the country is negotiating a loan with the World Bank to establish an AI Center and a venture fund for technology startups, and the recent entry into the global technology alliance Pax Silica adds an international dimension to these efforts. The Taiwanese budget demonstrates not an abstract goal but a concrete benchmark: what an economy looks like where investments in computing infrastructure and workforce training genuinely convert into sustainable growth, rather than remaining at the level of pilot projects.

Author's conclusion

The one-time payment of NT$10,000 is, in essence, a political gesture showing citizens that abstract GDP growth has a concrete monetary expression. But far more important for other countries, including Kazakhstan, is not the payment itself, but what lies behind it: years of consistent investment in semiconductor and computing infrastructure that now yield measurable returns in the form of double-digit economic growth. For countries just beginning to build their own AI infrastructure, the Taiwanese budget is a rare opportunity to see what the distant but quite real fruits of such investments can look like.