The government broke ground for a new exhibition hall in Nangang District (南港), Taipei, yesterday to address the increasing demand for floor space for international exhibitions.
The NT$7.26 billion (US$243 million) Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center Hall 2 is set to be built on a 3.36-hectare lot opposite Hall 1 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The nine-floor building is set to accommodate 2,362 exhibition booths and conference space for 2,400 people when it begins operations in 2016, ministry officials said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) said the development of the exhibition industry would help Taiwanese enterprises learn new technologies, find new trade partners or seek targets for acquisitions at a wide array of international trade fairs to be held at the venue.
“It’s not [about] what you know. It’s [about] who you know,” Chen said.
The premier said that the new hall would bring the total floor area of Taipei’s exhibition halls to 100,000m2, but this would still lag behind other countries with more mature exhibition industries.
Germany’s four biggest exhibition halls have at least 300,000m2 of space each, Chen said, and Germany ranks only third among the world’s largest exhibition-hall providers, behind the US and China.
Separately, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Francis Liang (梁國新) said that the government would help domestic manufacturers capitalize on growing commercial opportunities in emerging markets by assisting them in branding and other marketing needs.
Liang said emerging markets, especially those in Asia, are gradually supplanting Europe and the US as the consumer markets with the greatest potential, because of their strong domestic demand.
Based on estimates by international marketing companies, the middle class in these emerging markets could spend up to US$20 trillion over the next decade, which is twice the size of the US consumer market, Liang said.
He pledged that the government would assist domestic manufacturers in strengthening their design, innovation, research and development and international branding capabilities to get an edge in these markets.
“We will initially target markets in mainland China, Indonesia and Vietnam,” he said at this year’s Taiwan International Brand Forum, sponsored by the Bureau of Foreign Trade.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Nvidia Corp yesterday announced that CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) would attend an employee meeting in Taipei tomorrow to celebrate the launch of the company’s Taiwan headquarters project. Huang would attend a gathering at the site of Nvidia’s planned headquarters in Beitou Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區), the company said in a statement. After arriving in Taiwan on Saturday last week, Huang told reporters that he plans to meet with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), and would attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Nvidia’s Taiwan headquarters tomorrow. Nvidia has not yet applied