The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) yesterday said it is collaborating with local firms to incubate at least three start-ups within the next two to three years by transferring its advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technological know-how.
As the information technology industry continues to evolve, the institute — the cradle of the nation’s technology firms, including Apple Inc chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) — has envisioned a new role for itself: assisting the local manufacturing sector in transforming into a valued-added service provider.
To enhance competitiveness in the industry, the institute plans “to speed up and deepen its partnerships with local companies, schools and global peers through a new cocreation approach,” ITRI president Liu Jonq-min (劉仲明) told a media briefing.
The institute aims to create small start-ups with local companies or schools to bring new technologies to the market, Liu said.
The institute plans to create an incubator environment similar to Silicon Valley at its newly inaugurated Innovation Park by linking it with National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University, as well as the Hsinchu Science Park, he added.
“We hope to create a unique environment and ecosystem in Hsinchu to help rapidly solicit good talent and resources for the formation of an innovation research and development cluster,” Liu said. “With nerds and rich people, two elements for the creation of start-ups, we believe Hsinchu has the potential to become another Silicon Valley.”
Initially, three start-ups are to be formed over the next two to three years, the institute said, adding that they would be small firms with 20 to 30 workers.
The institute expects to create the first start-up by the end of next year to provide “intelligent” seawater desalination systems that monitor the consumption of water and cleaning chemicals through the use of deep learning technology it has developed, ITRI vice president Liu Chun-ting (劉軍廷) said.
Advantech Co Ltd (研華), the nation’s biggest industrial computer maker, and water nano filtration supplier New Micropore Inc (新長豐) are to join the project, the institute said.
About 15 other companies are to join the cocreation project targeting different fields, including autonomous cars, it said.
Two potential start-ups are a maker of an AI recognition system for diabetic retinal eye screening and a provider of 3D printing services for medical use, it added.
The institute said it expects revenue from technology transfers and cooperation with local firms to jump from NT$5 billion (US$166.7 million at the current exchange rate) last year to NT$6 billion, exceeding its annual target of NT$5.5 billion.
That would represent about 30 percent of the institute’s annual revenue, which this year totaled NT$20 billion, it added.
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
AMAZING ABUNDANCE: Elon Musk has announced plans for a new facility in Texas which would manufacture chips for Tesla and SpaceX to use in robotics and AI Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and space data centers — would be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX). Musk, the chief executive officer of the two companies, said he would start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that would have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any kind. The project would call for one day supporting 1 terawatt (TW) of computing power per year, the amount Musk expects the companies to
RSS