The administration of President William Lai (賴清德) has hit the ground running in several areas, but few more so than artificial intelligence (AI). Lai seems determined to make it a hallmark of his presidency alongside healthcare improvements, positioning Taiwan as a hub for the emergent technology in Asia and the world. It was even featured in his inaugural speech on May 20, tagged with the slogan “AI island.”
Saying that Taiwan must adapt to the pace of AI innovation, Lai called on the nation to “use AI’s computational power to make our nation, our military, our workforce and our economy stronger.”
The administration’s plan to accomplish this vague call to action is taking shape. According to Lai’s comments at Computex Taipei less than a month after his inauguration, the “AI island” goal would be achieved by building supercomputers and other high-tech infrastructure, cultivating talent and ensuring a stable power supply.
So how is it going so far?
The National Science and Technology Council last month announced a five-year, NT$36 billion (US$1.12 billion) fund to support the semiconductor industry and build advanced computer centers across southern Taiwan. A council official said that the project, paired with a separate chip innovation program, aims to increase the government’s computational power from 19 petaflops to 480 petaflops by 2028.
Enterprises are collaborating on the AI Computing Center, which is to be the 15th-most powerful supercomputer in the world, while the Forerunner 1 supercomputer built by the National Center for High-Performance Computing came online in July. To ensure AI developers could access these resources, the Ministry of Digital Affairs promised NT$65 million to build shared computing resources.
Talent cultivation has also been a focus, with several programs promising to incorporate AI into all levels of education. The Taiwan Artificial Intelligence College Alliance, which was unveiled last week, is to offer an AI certificate that students can present to employers as proof of AI competency after undergoing a program set by the Ministry of Education and top universities.
The energy component would be the hardest to crack. Industry leaders all repeat the same refrain, requesting stable, high-quality and cheap power as a prerequisite to developing the industry.
On a collision course with the government’s climate goals and commitment to eliminating nuclear power, there does not appear to be a solution that would satisfy all parties. The government’s lack of policy proposals has reflected this. The appointment of nuclear-friendly members to Lai’s National Climate Change Strategy Committee seems to suggest he might be willing to press pause on the “nuclear-free homeland” policy in favor of other goals.
However, an appointment or two does not equate to a policy shift. Until there are significant and novel investments in this area, the calls for a more robust power plan are warranted.
The “AI island” efforts reflect a genuine and considered determination to cultivate the industry, but planning and budgets mean little unless they can be implemented on a micro level. AI especially poses an existential risk that threatens harming a litany of other societal touchstones if approached recklessly. The technology is so new that societies worldwide are still struggling to imagine its potential consequences, much less mitigate them, even as governments and industry are racing to get ahead of the pack.
To avoid pitfalls, public servants, students, teachers, employees and others tasked with carrying out the groundwork must all keep the greater picture in mind during the rush to create an “AI island.”
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision. It is more probable that both sides would seek a way to de-escalate, paving the way for a Trump-Xi summit that allows the global economy some breathing room. Practically speaking, China and the US have vulnerabilities, and a prolonged trade war would be damaging for both. In the US, the electoral system means that public opinion
RSS