A local industry association head said Taiwan should learn from Japan in terms of how to use a variety of resources for electricity generation, including nuclear power, as future technologies are destined to consume much more power.
Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (CNAIC) chairman Thomas Wu (吳東亮) said on the sidelines of the Taiwan-Japan (Kyushu) Economic and Trade Forum in Taipei on Tuesday that one of the reasons Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) opened a plant in Kyushu is the location’s access to power resources which include nuclear and hydroelectric power.
Wu was responding to a media inquiry about his views on whether power consumption would drastically increase with the development of artificial intelligence (AI), given that nuclear power would no longer be part of Taiwan’s power mix by next year if existing laws relating to the ongoing decommission of nuclear plants remain unchanged.
He said that the government should have experts to estimate how much more electricity would be required to further develop AI.
“When Kyushu Electric Power chairman Michiaki Uriu came to last year’s forum, he had exchanges with [Vice Minister of Economic Affairs] Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生),” he said, adding that Taiwan could use Japan’s experience as a reference.
In a net zero summit held in June last year by Taishin International Bank, Uriu said Kyushu Electric Power Co’s strategy for reaching net zero is to utilize nuclear power to ensure energy diversity and security.
Wu said that Kyushu, in addition to having comprehensive semiconductor industry clusters, has “stable, sufficient green power with a competitive price,” making it a top choice for semiconductor companies to invest and set up factories.
CNAIC and the Kyushu Economic Federation in 2008 signed a memorandum of understanding for future cooperation in 2012, and has held forums focused on semiconductors and AI since 2022, Wu said.
“It took less than two years for JASM [Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc], TSMC’s joint venture in Kyushu, to build the fab in Kumamoto, which shows that semiconductor cooperation between Taiwan and Japan is not only an economic engine for both countries, but also key to the two excelling in a world impacted by geopolitical changes and supply chain reshuffling,” Wu said.
Taiwan’s financial sector has also been brought to Kyushu by the TSMC-led investment, with E.Sun Bank recently opening a Fukuoka branch and Taishin Bank to open a sub-branch in Fukuoka on April 23, he added.
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