.tw

Overview

• .tw is the Internet country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Republic of China (Taiwan), based on the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code TW.
• The registry and sponsor is the Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC), a Taiwanese non-profit organization appointed by the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the Ministry of Transportation and Communication.
• Registrations are available at the second level (example.tw) and at third level beneath a range of second-level labels (example.com.tw, example.org.tw, etc.).

History

• Introduced / implemented: 31 July 1989 (delegation date recorded as July 31, 1989).
• Registry operator: Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC).
• Key milestones:
  • Since 1 March 2001, TWNIC stopped accepting new registrations directly and moved to a reseller registrar model.
  • ICANN assigned two internationalized ccTLDs on 25 June 2010: .台灣 (traditional Chinese, punycode .xn--kpry57d) and .台湾 (simplified Chinese, punycode .xn--kprw13d).
  • The simplified Chinese suffix functions as a DNAME alias for the traditional suffix (aliasing noted since at least November 2015); the traditional suffix is actively used.
  • As of May 2023 there are 17 registrars contracted to handle new .tw registrations.

Usage and Audience

• Intended use: entities connected with Taiwan; .tw is popular in Taiwan.
• Common second-level labels and their typical audiences:
  • Open/general: .tw, .club.tw, .com.tw (commercial), .ebiz.tw (online business), .game.tw (gaming), .idv.tw (individuals)
  • Eligibility-expected / restricted: .edu.tw (educational institutions), .gov.tw (government agencies), .mil.tw (military), .net.tw (network/telecommunications license holders), .org.tw (non-profit organizations)
• Applicants are required to provide an email address for verification during registration.

Registration Rules

• General policy: No particular broad restrictions for many .tw registrations; specific second-level labels have eligibility requirements.

• Levels allowed: registrations at second level and at third level beneath specified second-level labels.

• Second-level domain examples and requirements:

  • .edu.tw: for legally registered education or research institutes (registered with Ministry of Education).
  • .gov.tw: for government agencies (registered with National Development Council).
  • .mil.tw: for national defense or military institutes (registered with Ministry of National Defense).
  • .com.tw: for corporations, firms, partnerships, professional practitioners or foreign equivalents (taxation/registration requirements apply).
  • .net.tw: for licensed telecommunication enterprises or network operators (licenses/approvals required).
  • .org.tw: for foundations, non-profit organizations or public bodies (domestic or foreign non-profits may qualify).
  • .idv.tw: for individual persons (identity verified via email).
  • .game.tw, .ebiz.tw, .club.tw: no particular restriction beyond identity verification via email.

• Character set and length:

  • Minimum length: 1 character; maximum length: 63 characters (applies after Punycode conversion for IDNs).
  • Allowed characters: letters (A-Z, case-insensitive), digits (0-9), and the hyphen (-).
  • Hyphen rules: hyphen cannot be the first or last character and cannot appear consecutively.

• Internationalized domain names (IDNs):

  • Chinese-character domain names may be registered at the second level under .tw.
  • Registrants who use domestic registrars may automatically receive corresponding Chinese-character names under second-level labels equivalent to net.tw, org.tw and com.tw (網路.tw, 組織.tw, 商業.tw).
  • Chinese IDNs must comprise at least one Chinese character as defined by the Big5 system.
  • Japanese, Korean, Thai, French and German IDNs are limited to second-level registration and must follow the respective IDN table rules (must include at least one character from that language's non-ASCII set where required); they may also include ASCII letters, digits and hyphen subject to general rules.

SEO and Brand Impact

• Security and infrastructure (snapshot March 2017):
  • Approximately 8.31% of .tw domains were served via HTTPS (March 2017 data).
  • Apache was the most common web server for .tw domains (47.60%), followed by Microsoft-IIS (20.31%).
• Brand positioning:
  • .tw signals a connection to Taiwan and is commonly used by Taiwanese organizations, businesses, government and individuals, making it a regional and country-specific branding choice.

% IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       TW

organisation: Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC)
address:      3F., No. 123, Sec. 4, Bade Rd.
address:      Songshan Dist.
address:      Taipei 105
address:      Taiwan

contact:      administrative
name:         Jofan Yu
organisation: Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC)
address:      3F., No. 123, Sec. 4, Bade Rd.
address:      Songshan Dist.
address:      Taipei 105
address:      Taiwan
phone:        +886 2 2528 9696
fax-no:       +886 2 2528 7756
e-mail:       tw-admin@twnic.tw

contact:      technical
name:         Technical Director
organisation: Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC)
address:      3F., No. 123, Sec. 4, Bade Rd.
address:      Songshan Dist.
address:      Taipei 105
address:      Taiwan
phone:        +886 2 2528 9696
fax-no:       +886 2 2528 7756
e-mail:       tech-admin@twnic.tw

nserver:      A.DNS.TW 2001:45b1:0:5:0:0:0:25 203.73.24.25
nserver:      ANYTLD.APNIC.NET 2001:dd8:12:0:0:0:0:53 202.12.31.53
nserver:      B.DNS.TW 210.201.138.58 2404:0:10a0:0:0:0:0:58
nserver:      C.DNS.TW 2001:b020:0:77:0:0:0:1 203.66.87.201
nserver:      D.DNS.TW 2001:4541:9010:7:0:0:0:186 60.199.165.186
nserver:      E.DNS.TW 2001:b000:1e0:c000:0:0:0:11 211.20.231.11
nserver:      F.DNS.TW 40.65.125.222
nserver:      G.DNS.TW 34.141.111.176
nserver:      H.DNS.TW 2001:500:14:6119:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.119
ds-rdata:     51277 8 2 462da9af501d2b1eef6725522db5972f8cd2490b51d92088ff1e3d2de0ec7bcd

whois:        whois.twnic.net.tw

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: http://rs.twnic.net.tw

created:      1989-07-31
changed:      2025-07-15
source:       IANA