Okay I am back to give my answer. I will give a simple overview. A good amount of this will actually be reproduced from a paper I wrote a couple years ago on the economic development of Taiwan haha

Nowadays, a staggering 98% of motherboards and 90% of laptops are manufactured in Taiwan, among a slew of other computer technologies. An example of the dominance of Taiwanese manufacturing is the iPhone. Essentially all of the hardware is manufactured by a Taiwanese company called Foxconn. In fact, Foxconn on its own manufactures a massive amount of electronics worldwide. Why is Taiwan so dominant? I should say that in fact the computer industry has been big in Taiwan going back much further than the 90s. To understand how computers became the big force from Taiwan, we want to look at the economic development of Taiwan in general, with particular focus on a guy named Li Kwoh-ting, better known as K.T. Li.

I'm not going to talk too much about his upbringing (he was an immigrant/colonialist from the mainland, like much of the Guomindang government), but he was put in a position to lead the industrial planning of Taiwan in 1953. For the next ten years he worked under the tutelage of K.Y. Yin. Production of plastics, artificial fibers, fertilizers, and textiles were some of the focuses of manufacturing with the goal of eventually retaking the mainland. During this time, the agricultural sector also grew massively. Under the "Planned Market Economy" of K.Y. Yin, Li wrote papers arguing that Taiwan needed to turn from import-substitution industrialization towards an export-oriented economy, if it wanted to avoid being limited in its development.

As Li became the Minister of Economic Affairs in 1965, US Aid ended as he had said it would, and because the rest of the government had listened to his research, it was already investing in its forward-looking development. From 1960 to 1970, exports from Taiwan grew from $174 million US to $1.56 billion US. It was in 1973, during a recession, that Taiwan created the Industrial Technology Research Institute, its purpose to develop new industrial technology and techniques. Again, Li spearheaded the move into technology. By 1978, Li's “Program to Develop Science and Technology” emphasized in particular the advancement of the four industries of energy, material, information, and automation, establishment of the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, recruitment of manpower (both domestic and international), and the establishment of the Science and Technology Advisory Group. As we can see here, Taiwan was orienting itself to the computer industry long before personal computers were commonplace. Li felt that the time was ripe to develop the computer industry, based on the trends he was seeing elsewhere. It was a great insight.

In 1979, the Computer Industry Development Council was established in order to promote the use of computers throughout society, locally developing computer scientists, and producing high-quality computer systems for local use and export. That same year, United Microelectronics became the first semiconductor manufacturer in Taiwan, and is now one of the world’s leaders in integrated circuits. In 1982, United Microelectronics began manufacturing various kinds of application-specific integrated circuits. Agreements were also formed with three Silicon Valley Chinese American firms relocated in Hsinchu Science Park; in this agreement the emphasis was on advanced semiconductor design rather than production. By the mid-1980s, Taiwan’s projects were already very advanced by world standards. In 1986, the government and K. T. Li orchestrated a collaborative deal between Philips and several domestic firms to start a very-large-scale integrated circuit factory; the new company was called Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, and almost half of its startup cost was funded by the government. By the end of the 1980s, personal computers, peripherals, and add-ons were a major part of Taiwan’s exports, and of the world market in computer add-ons, one third were from Taiwan. The statistics resulting from these government-led investments are impressive. For example, between 1984 and 1988, the export value of Taiwan-manufactured hardware products increased more than five times, from $1 billion USD to $5.15 billion USD, and by 1990 Taiwan had become one of the largest exporters of personal computers in the world.

Hopefully this gives you some insight into the history of computer manufacturing in Taiwan, how it was an integral part of the Taiwanese developmental plan starting in the 1970s. K.T. Li saw where this was going to be a big force in future years and advocated for involvement early. Taiwan was on the cutting edge and that is part of why the country is still a dominant force today.

It should be noted as well that though Li retired in 1988, he actually became an advisor to the president and in fact advised the People's Republic of China on economic development as well.