A new artificial intelligence (AI) industrial park to be built in Tainan would be at the foundation of Taiwan’s development of AI as an industry and its application to other sectors, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said on Saturday.
During a visit to Tainan, Cho toured the site of the Shalun Smart Green Energy Science City project and said the first two parts of the project that are built — the CyberSecurity and Smart Technology R&D Building, and the Shalun Green Energy Technology Demonstration Site — represent the starting point for the science city’s AI development.
The new AI park is to extend out from those two areas, he said.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Taipei Times
The National Science Technology Council one of the agencies overseeing the park, said it would house data centers, and other sections are planned for zero-carbon technologies, quantum science, smart agriculture, smart transportation and smart medicine.
Cho said the park was being established to carry out President William Lai’s (賴清德) policy of supporting “Five Trusted Industry Sectors” — semiconductors, AI, defense, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications.
Major tech companies such as Nvidia and AMD have plans to further their bases in Taiwan, and the government has the responsibility to provide good infrastructure to facilitate their investment, he said.
The industrial park would be another base connecting with northern Kaohsiung to form a “southern smart corridor,” he said.
Northern Kaohsiung is emerging as a site for high-tech parks, including the Northern Kaohsiung Industrial Park project that broke ground last year, and the Ciaotou Science Park aimed at attracting semiconductor, smart machinery, and space-related companies.
Also sprouting up is the Nanzih Technology Industrial Park, where Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is building a fab that would produce advanced 2-nanometer wafers.
Council head Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said his agency would accelerate the building of data centers and work with top international enterprises to turn Shalun into an AI R&D stronghold in the Asia-Pacific region.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said the AI park could benefit from the presence of AI research institutes at National Cheng Kung University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University’s Tainan Campus and would also eventually benefit other southern cities.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS