On August 19th, 2021, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics of Taiwan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the joint development of new instruments for the Subaru Telescope. The signing ceremony was held online between Japan, Taiwan, and Hawaii (U.S.), where Prof. Akio Komori, President of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Prof. Saku Tsuneta, Director General of NAOJ, Prof. James C. Liao, President of Academia Sinica, and Prof. Shiang-Yu Wang, Acting Director of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics ("ASIAA") attended to conclude the MOU.

In 2008, NAOJ and ASIAA signed their first memorandum of understanding for the Subaru Telescope, with the objective of jointly developing the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC), one of Subaru Telescope's observational instruments. Since then, in addition to their success in achieving HSC's first light in 2013, the two institutions have continued their research collaboration on the development of the Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) and the next-generation wide-field adaptive optics system (ULTIMATE-Subaru project).

While this MOU aims to advance collaboration in the development of observational equipment, it is also expected to contribute to maintaining the research relationship between the two institutions and to serve as a basis for enhancing further cooperation between Japan and Taiwan in the field of astronomical research.