.tw Domain
Taiwan's Official Country Domain
Register your .tw domain from just £29.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included with every domain.
What is a .tw domain?
The .tw domain is the country code for Taiwan, managed by TWNIC (Taiwan Network Information Center). Taiwan is a global powerhouse in semiconductor manufacturing and technology, home to TSMC, Foxconn, and a thriving startup scene. With over 21 million internet users and very high smartphone penetration, Taiwan is one of Asia's most connected markets. Taiwanese consumers prefer .tw for local businesses. Registration is open to anyone worldwide.
Who should register .tw?
Taiwanese businesses, semiconductor and electronics companies, UK firms with Taiwanese suppliers, and tech brands targeting the Taiwan market.
Why choose .tw?
- Taiwan's official country code managed by TWNIC
- Global semiconductor and technology powerhouse
- Open to worldwide registration
- 21+ million internet users with high digital literacy
Who runs .tw, and since when
Registry data from the .tw delegation record held by IANA, which maintains the internet's root zone. Eligibility comes from the registry's own policy, and the prices are ours.
- Extension type
- Country-code (ccTLD)
- Registry operator
- Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC)
- The organisation that runs the extension
- In the root zone since
- 1989
- Delegated 31 July 1989
- Who can register
- Open worldwide at the second level; com.tw and net.tw have their own rules
- Checked against the registry's own policy
- Our price
- £29.99 a year
- Ex VAT. Renews at the same price
Where .tw is open and com.tw is not
Taiwan runs two namespaces under one code and they have different doors. Names registered directly under .tw are what TWNIC calls generic domain names, and its own FAQ lists them with no applicant qualification restrictions at all. The third level is another matter. A com.tw expects a company, firm, limited partnership or professional practitioner registered under the law and tax registered, with foreign companies accepted on their home country registration, and net.tw is limited to licensed telecommunications operators.
So a British exporter can hold example.tw without a Taiwanese entity, and cannot hold example.com.tw without one. TWNIC dropped paper eligibility checks at the application stage in January 2003 and runs everything online, but it kept the audit. If a registered name is reported as failing the requirements, TWNIC and the registrar check after the fact, and a name confirmed ineligible can be deleted. Registering at the wrong level is not a clerical slip you get to correct later.
Renewals want a diary entry too. Under TWNIC's registration rules the registry emails a reminder ninety days before the period ends, then stops the name working for thirty days once it has expired. Pay inside that window and the name comes back with the year counted from the original expiry date. Miss it and the name is released for anyone to register, with no redemption stage to rescue you. That is a shorter runway than most UK buyers are used to from generic extensions, and worth knowing before you point a supplier portal or a support address at one.
Is .tw the right choice for you?
We would rather sell you the right extension once than the wrong one twice.
.tw works well if
- You buy from or supply Taiwanese manufacturers and want a local address for that side of the business without forming a Taiwanese company.
- You sell consumer products into Taiwan and want the address a Taiwanese shopper reads as local rather than imported.
- You already have a Taiwanese entity taking com.tw as the main address, and you want the plain .tw held alongside it.
- Your brand name is still free at the second level in Taiwan, and you would rather own it than explain later why a competitor has it.
Look elsewhere if
- You assumed com.tw was included. That one needs a registered, tax registered company, so the entity has to exist before the domain does.
- You want a Chinese language address as the main one. That is a separate registration under .tw or the Chinese equivalent, not something the English name gives you.
- You are casual about renewal dates. Thirty days after expiry the name goes back on sale, and TWNIC counts the new year from the original expiry date rather than the day you pay.
Shipping only the occasional order to Taiwan? Your existing .com will serve those customers and costs less to keep. See .com pricing.
.tw vs .com: which should you register?
Nearly every UK business asking about .tw already owns a .com, so the real question is whether the second address earns its keep. It does when the Taiwanese side is a working relationship: a supplier, a distributor, a local sales page, a support address somebody in Taipei will type from memory.
A .com is read as international and carries no country signal anywhere. A .tw is read as Taiwanese, which helps you in Taiwan and does nothing at all in Google UK. That cuts both ways, and it is the whole argument.
Expiry behaviour is the detail people miss. A generic extension gives you an auto renew grace and then a redemption stage, at a price, before a name is released. TWNIC gives you thirty days of suspension and then puts the name back on sale. Same domain, very different margin for error.
| .tw | .com | |
|---|---|---|
| Who may register | Anyone worldwide at the second level | Anyone worldwide |
| Third level rules | com.tw needs a registered company | Not applicable |
| Geographic signal | Taiwan | None |
| After expiry | Thirty days suspended, then released | Auto renew and redemption stages first |
| Registry | TWNIC | Verisign |
.tw domain questions, answered
What people ask us before registering a .tw domain.
Can't find what you're looking for?
Ask us directlyYes, at the second level. TWNIC lists names registered directly under .tw as generic domain names with no applicant qualification restrictions, so no Taiwanese entity, address or local contact is needed. What a UK company cannot do is take a com.tw without a qualifying company registration, or a net.tw without a telecommunications licence. Decide which level you actually need before ordering, because the two are sold as though they were interchangeable and they are not.
One is open and the other is not. A .tw is a generic name at the second level, available to anyone in the world. A com.tw sits at the third level and expects a company, firm, limited partnership or professional practitioner registered under the law and tax registered, with foreign companies accepted on their home country registration. Taiwanese businesses commonly use com.tw, so it reads as the established local form, and that is the trade for the paperwork.
Not at the point of registration. TWNIC stopped requiring paper eligibility review for new applications in January 2003, so the process is online and can complete the same day. The check moved rather than disappeared: if a domain is reported as not meeting the eligibility requirements, TWNIC and the registrar audit it afterwards, and a name confirmed ineligible can be deleted. That matters most for the restricted third level categories rather than a plain .tw.
It stops resolving and you have thirty days. TWNIC's registration rules have the registry email a reminder ninety days before the period ends, then suspend the name for thirty days after expiry. Renew inside that window and the new year is counted from the original expiry date, so you do not gain time by paying late. After it, the name is released for anyone to register. Set the reminder yourself rather than relying on the email arriving.
Included with Your .tw Domain
DNS Management
Full DNS zone editor to manage A, CNAME, MX, TXT, and all record types.
Email Forwarding
Set up professional email addresses and forward to any inbox.
Auto-Renewal
Never lose your domain with automatic renewal protection.
Free 10GB Mailbox
One 10GB mailbox (POP3/IMAP) included with every domain, on any TLD.
Other Geographic Domains Extensions
Register your .tw domain today
Secure your .tw domain from just £29.99/yr. Free DNS management, email forwarding, and 10GB mailbox included.
