China-Linked Cyber Attacks on Taiwan’s Critical Infrastructure Surge in 2025 Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) reported a sharp escalation in cyber attacks linked to China throughout 2025, averaging 2.63 million daily incidents—a 6% increase from 2024 and a 113% surge since 2023, when official tracking began. The attacks targeted energy, emergency services, hospitals, and semiconductor hubs, including facilities housing TSMC, as part of a broader hybrid warfare strategy. The NSB’s January 4 report highlighted a deliberate pattern: cyber offensives often coincided with Chinese military exercises, including 40 joint combat readiness patrols near Taiwan in 2025. Of these, 23 were accompanied by intensified hacking, reinforcing Beijing’s dual-pressure tactics—physical intimidation paired with digital disruption. Key political moments, such as President Lai Ching-te’s anniversary speech and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s address to the European Parliament, also saw spikes in malicious activity. Attack methods included DDoS disruptions, man-in-the-middle data theft, and network infiltration, with the semiconductor sector facing espionage attempts to acquire advanced technology. The NSB assessed these efforts as part of China’s push for technological self-sufficiency and a bid to gain leverage in its competition with the U.S. Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has denied involvement in hacking but maintains the option of force to assert control. Taipei rejects China’s sovereignty claims, asserting that Taiwan’s future must be decided by its people.