At a time when Internet use in academic, research and business circles worldwide continues to skyrocket, over half of the people in Taiwan have no access to the information superhighway at home, school or work.
According to a report put out by AC Nielsen, just over 10 million people in Taiwan report having access to the Internet. The remaining 13 million people living in Taiwan have apparently been left out of the digital revolution.
The information was collected through random calling and speaking with residents throughout the country.
Some officials blamed the lack of Internet access on perception. Many people have access right around the corner but have yet to find a reason to get online.
"All schools in Taiwan, from universities down to elementary schools have a computer center and all students can access the Net. Right now, we're working on putting more computers in every classroom, so that every school has a similar computer infrastructure," said Tu Ai-pao (杜愛葆), a senior administrator at the Ministry of Education.
Tu did, however, point out a growing digital divide which separates the city from countryside across the nation.
Throughout Taiwan's larger cities, Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, people have much higher access to the Internet. So much so, teachers in these cities can assign homework requiring the use of a computer. Outside the cities, it's a different story, where most people do not own computers, nor do they have other avenues for getting online.
AC Nielsen's NetWatch also had a survey to support this. The company says that not only do people living in the countryside access the Net at a much lower rate, they found that only 23.3 percent of people in Taiwan's countryside even have access to the Internet.
According to Tu, "it all depends on the local government" to promote Internet use and find public areas for people to get online.
Officials at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications responded to the Nielsen report by saying the problem of Internet access is a household matter, not a government problem. Since all of Taiwan is wired for telephone use, anyone with a modem and computer can get on the Internet.
Moreover, the bureau is working on a plan to implement broadband Internet access throughout the nation, even in areas that may not be able to support it financially.
The government ministry could be right. In Taiwan, only 38 percent of people with access to the Internet actually use it -- the lowest percentage in all of Asia -- according to AC Nielsen.
New Zealand came in first in this category, with 55 percent of people with access to the Internet putting the system to use.
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is