Amazon v. SpaceX in Taiwan

As Amazon looks to sell its nascent satellite internet service to foreign governments, a big part of its pitch ought to be: Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy are not Elon Musk. That seems to be the appeal for Taiwan, which on Tuesday revealed it was talking with Amazon about a “collaboration” with the company’s Project Kuiper satellite internet service. The talks are part of a broader effort by Taiwan to build up its communications infrastructure to withstand a potential Chinese attack. 

Taiwan’s technology minister, Wu Cheng-wen, told reporters Tuesday that Taiwan can’t get enough bandwidth through an existing deal with France’s Eutelsat Oneweb, according to the Financial Times. And doing a deal with Musk’s SpaceX—the clear front-runner in satellite internet, as Amazon has yet to launch a non-prototype Kuiper satellite—is out of the question for Taiwan, according to the report.