The US-based Super Micro Computer Inc and Taiwan’s Guo Rui on Wednesday announced a joint venture to build a computation center powered only by renewable energy.
After meeting with Supermicro founder Charles Liang (梁見後) and Guo Rui chairman Lin Po-wen (林博文), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) instructed a cross-ministry panel to be established to help promote the government’s green energy policies and facilitate efforts to obtain land for the generation of green power, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said.
Cho thanked Liang for his company’s support of the government’s 2019 Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in Taiwan, and Supermicro’s willingness to work with Taiwanese companies and increase their international clout.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
While the premier did not openly instruct the ministries to facilitate the companies’ joint venture, he asked Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs to head a cross-ministerial task force to increase Taiwan’s attraction for international investment in renewable energy and artificial intelligence (AI), Lee said.
An Executive Yuan source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the government should facilitate foreign investors’ increased investment in Taiwan, as such investments go hand-in-hand with government policies to grow AI and renewable energies.
While the economic ministry is not leading the task force, it would be the primary facilitator for cross-ministry efforts, the source said, adding that Kung has been included, as he had worked with Liang before.
Separately, Nvidia Corp also stated its intent to establish a secondary headquarters in Taiwan that would be equal in size to its Silicon Valley headquarters.
At the agency’s end-of-year news conference on Wednesday, National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said that foreign investors were willing to establish offices and centers in Taiwan because of the nation’s significant talent pool and relevant infrastructure, including the availability of water, power and Internet services, as well as the proximity to their supply chains.
Taiwan’s information technology and semiconductor industries are well-developed and could significantly influence global AI development, Liu said.
If such trends continue, Taiwan could form a new international hub for AI, he said.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that the Taipei City Government would be in close contact with Nvidia representatives and would endeavor to persuade Nvidia to establish its overseas headquarters in Taipei.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said the New Taipei City Government has prepared a portfolio of possible sites and preferential measures that the municipality is willing to offer.
Hou and Chiang made the comments on Tuesday before a meeting of next year’s World Masters Games organization committee.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by