Coretronic Intelligent Robotics (CIRC)
Taiwanese subsidiary of the Coretronic optics group and a member of Taiwan's military 'drone national team,' building AI reconnaissance and surveillance UAVs on a deliberately non-Chinese supply chain.
Background
Coretronic Intelligent Robotics Corporation (CIRC) is the drone and robotics arm of Coretronic Corporation (TWSE: 5371), the Hsinchu group that is the world's largest contract manufacturer of projectors and display backlight modules. Coretronic pivoted toward AI, big data and cloud computing around 2015-16 and channeled its robotics ambitions into CIRC, which Taiwan's corporate registry lists as founded in 2017 (LinkedIn cites 2015; the website carries a 2018 copyright — the exact date is muddy). Headquartered at Hsinchu Science Park with a test-flight and assembly site at Zhunan, Miaoli, plus satellite offices in the UK (Hemel Hempstead) and Tokyo, CIRC is led by president Jeffrey Hsieh; parent-group president Andy Sin sets the wider drone strategy.
From the outset CIRC chased the roughly 5% of the drone market that is fully autonomous — 'drone-in-a-box' systems that patrol fixed routes, run AI image recognition and push data to the cloud — rather than the manually piloted mass market DJI dominates. It leverages Coretronic's optical, mechanical, thermal and electronic engineering to build its own gimbal cameras, flight-control and battery-management systems, and ground-control software. That vertical integration made CIRC a standout entrant when Taipei stood up its indigenous military-drone program.
Financial footing
- CONFIRMED: 2024 Ministry of National Defense contract for 3,037 units, NT$2.2B (~US$63.7M), delivered by end-2025
- REPORTED: among four firms (with Evergreen Aviation, Taiwan UAV, MiTAC) sharing an Aug 2024 ~NT$7B 'commercial-grade, military-use' drone award
- ~3,500 units sold in 2025 (most of any domestic rival)
- Stated 50,000/yr target
- Backers: Wholly owned subsidiary of Coretronic Corporation (TWSE: 5371, the projector/backlight-module maker); no external venture funding (Tracxn lists it 'unfunded'); Taiwan registry shows paid-in capital ~NT$330M.
CIRC is a wholly owned Coretronic subsidiary, not an independently listed or venture-funded company; Tracxn classifies it as 'unfunded,' and Taiwan's registry shows paid-in capital of about NT$330 million. It has no separately disclosed revenue, valuation or IPO — figures roll up into Coretronic (TWSE: 5371). Coretronic has said its drone segment was roughly 5% of total group sales in 2024 and expects a larger share as defense orders ramp.
Unit volumes are the clearer gauge: CIRC shipped about 3,000 drones in 2023, projected over 10,000 for 2024, and reported roughly 3,500 units sold in 2025 — more than any domestic rival — against a stated target of 50,000 units a year. Its anchor defense win is a 2024 Ministry of National Defense contract for 3,037 units worth NT$2.2 billion (about US$63.7 million), delivered by end-2025. Any financials beyond these disclosed points should be treated as unconfirmed.
Major customers & contracts
CIRC's largest customer is US sensor and defense-electronics group Teledyne (Teledyne FLIR), for which it builds the SIRAS quad-rotor in Taiwan with final integration in the United States — an ODM job, not a CIRC-branded sale. Its second pillar is the Taiwanese state: the Ministry of National Defense (the 3,037-unit order) and government research programs.
Earlier commercial deployments include Japan's KDDI (tunnel and dam inspection, 2019), Chunghwa Telecom's 5G drone service, and US police and fire departments in California, Texas, Michigan and Florida swapping out Chinese-made DJI aircraft. CIRC also runs a UK demonstration base at Hemel Hempstead for European buyers. The common thread: Western and allied customers who need a maker with the technology and capacity to build their drones but no interest in competing under its own brand.
Leadership & contact surface
Leadership: Jeffrey Hsieh (謝啟堂) — President, CIRC
Official site: https://www.coretronic-robotics.com
Competitive position
CIRC's edge is being a credible 'non-red' — China-free — drone maker at scale. Per Taiwanese press it is the only Taiwanese firm mass-producing and selling drones into the US market, and the only one certified to build sub-2 kg surveillance and micro drones for the military program. Its ODM/OEM model plus Coretronic's hardware depth let it approach expensive Israeli or Western gimbal/sensor performance at far lower cost.
Domestically it sits alongside Thunder Tiger, MiTAC, GEOSAT, Qisda, Taiwan UAV and Evergreen Aviation in the drone national team and the AIDC-led TEDIBOA alliance; globally it is positioned squarely against China's DJI. The weaknesses analysts flag are software and chips: Taiwanese makers lean on general-purpose Nvidia and Qualcomm processors while DJI uses cheaper self-developed silicon and iterates firmware in days, and CIRC's software and edge-processing depth trails its hardware. Southeast Asian rivals are expected to narrow the hardware gap over time.
Battlefield relevance
CIRC sits at the center of Taiwan's drive to field an indigenous, China-decoupled drone force for a Taiwan Strait contingency. Taipei's doctrine leans on large numbers of small reconnaissance and attack drones — asymmetric 'porcupine' defense — and Washington has publicly urged Taiwan to build a 'hornet's nest' of unmanned systems to deter Beijing. Taiwan's executive branch has pitched a roughly US$6.6 billion plan for more than 200,000 domestically made unmanned systems (incl.
208,000+ one-way attack drones and ~1,446 reconnaissance drones) through 2033, on top of a record NT$50 billion tender for about 50,000 drones. CIRC's contribution is the ISR layer — surveillance and miniature UAVs plus AI imaging payloads — not loitering munitions. The same non-Chinese sourcing that wins it Western orders (Czech and Polish buyers turned to Taiwan after China curbed drone exports to Ukraine) is what makes it strategically valuable at home.
Sources & verification
- CommonWealth Magazine — Demand for Non-Chinese Supply Chain Ignites Taiwan Drone Boom (2025-09-16)
- CommonWealth Magazine — Coretronic drones soar over DJI in the US market (2024-01-02)
- Taiwan News — Taiwan's Coretronic showcases tech at German drone expo (2026-03-24)
- U.S. ITA / trade.gov — Taiwan: Highly Automated and Autonomous Systems (2025-11-26)
- Australian Defence Magazine — Taiwan testing UAV-launching USV (four-firm military drone contracts) (2025-08-13)
- DIGITIMES — Taiwan's Coretronic ramps up drone production as rare earth risks loom (2025-10-29)
- USNI News — Taiwan Budget Calls for $6.6B for Attack Drones, Unmanned Surface Vessels (2026-06-24)
- Defense News — Taiwan needs a 'hornet's nest' of drones to deter conflict, US diplomat says (2026-07-03)
- FINDIT (TW MOEA registry) — Coretronic Intelligent Robotics profile (founded 2017; paid-in capital NT$330M)