Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) has chosen to locate its new research-and-development (R&D) centers in Tainan and Kaohsiung, as part of the US chip company's NT$8.64 billion (US$270.5 million) project to advance its development of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and silicon photonics, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
AMD’s latest investment would help to develop Taiwan into an “AI silicon island,” the ministry said in a statement after Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) met AMD representatives led by David Wang (王啟尚), senior vice president of AMD’s graphics processing unit technologies and engineering, in Taipei yesterday.
AMD did not comment on why it chose two sites rather than one. Tainan is the birthplace of AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) and is a major manufacturing hub of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) 3-nanometer chips for AI devices. In Kaohsiung, TSMC is building a new fab to produce next-generation 2-nanometer chips.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
AMD is the latest in a series of global semiconductor companies seeking to build their R&D centers in Taiwan under the ministry’s A+ global R&D and innovation partnership program. The US chip company last month was granted a subsidy of NT$3.31 billion, about 38 percent of the company’s investment over three years.
AMD’s decision came as Taiwan has formed an extensive supply chain to provide components for the world’s AI devices, from AI chips made by TSMC to AI servers assembled by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) and Wiwynn Corp (緯穎).
AI chip giant Nvidia Corp has set up its first AI R&D center in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) and is scouting sites for a second, likely in Kaohsiung.
Semiconductor equipment makers ASML Holding NV, Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc previously also received grants to set up local R&D sites through the same program, the ministry said.
Kaohsiung has been working diligently to expand the local talent pool in collaboration with the nation’s prestigious schools. At the beginning of this year, National Tsing Hua University signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kaohsiung City Government to establish a branch in the city, following a similar agreement with National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University.
Based on details previously disclosed by the ministry, about 33 Taiwanese companies would take part in AMD’s R&D program, which would help to train more than 10,000 AI professionals each year for three years.
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