Tron Future’s space observation technology is at the forefront of Taiwan’s fledgling space industry, which is poised to dip a toe in the Emirati marketplace, hoping to secure a place in the kingdom’s space programmes.

Taking its first bow at the IDEX defence fair in Abu Dhabi in February 2023, Taiwan’s Tron Future Tech is looking to profit from the opening of regional space programmes to position its space industry product range. With its first spatial synthetic aperture radar, or SAR, due to be completed this year, Tron joins a growing list of Earth observation specialists interested in the United Arab Emirates’ space programmes.

The UAE has a number of SAR constellation programmes, which have sprung up on the back of promises of generous finance from a new sovereign National Space Fund, unveiled by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MbZ) in July but not up and running as yet. Although not all of the programmes are expected to be seen through to completion, the UAE Space Agency (IO, 05/12/22), Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC, IO, 14/11/22) and the part-public defence conglomerate Edge Group (IO, 01/09/22) are all working on distinct projects considered by geospatial, or GEOINT, experts to be viable prospects (IO, 30/11/22).

Tron’s representative in the Gulf is Zeyad Almajed, who distributes the company’s products through his company Basirah. Almajed has founded a number of tech industry consulting firms in the UAE and previously advised several subsidiaries of ADQ and Dubai Holding.

For the Taiwanese startup, competition in the UAE will be stiff, but it has solid references from its home turf. A supplier to Taiwan’s National Space Organization (NSPO), Tron has provided military communications materiel and radar for two new Taiwanese government SAR satellites. It is heading phase III of Taiwan’s space programme, based on industrialisation and globalisation, and is actively seeking new partners.

Tron’s shareholders, meanwhile, are influential people. Shareholder and chief executive Wang Yu-Jiu heads the Taiwan Space Industry Development Association (TSIDA), which promotes the country’s space industry. Tron’s Chun-Yang Chen (or Scott Chen), the California-based head of engineering at Meta, is a Tron shareholder as well as its executive director. Chen was previously chief executive of the dating app Grindr, for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Lin Yi-Bing, who was Taiwan’s science and technology minister in 2014-2015, has a minority stake in Tron through his company Di Cheng.