Taipei Computer Association chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) yesterday called for a better investment environment and a more open-minded attitude in response to the government’s plan to build an “Asian Silicon Valley” for start-ups and firms producing innovative products.
“It might not work if the government simply wants to copy the success of Silicon Valley,” Tung told a forum focusing on start-ups at Computex Taipei.
Tung’s remarks came after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the opening ceremony of Computex that the government is to carry out an “Asian Silicon Valley” initiative in Taoyuan, connecting domestic and international resources in manufacturing and research and development in a bid to develop Internet of Things (IOT) supply chains.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
Silicon Valley represents not only a location, but an adventurous spirit of innovation and creation, despite the failures of numerous start-ups over the decades, Tung said at the forum.
He said the government is thinking from a perspective of manufacturing hardware, but it is also important to think about deregulating to improve the investment environment, such as easing the regulations that allow foreigners to take white-collar jobs in Taiwan.
It is equally important that society has an open-minded attitude to encouraging start-ups, regardless of nationality or gender, he said.
Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP
“Many of the important international enterprises in Silicon Valley were not founded by Americans,” Tung said.
He said that Taiwan has adequate funds and talent for new start-ups, but he is not certain if society is tolerant enough to support foreign start-ups.
If the government’s start-ups initiative is only for Taiwanese firms, then such a mind-set would not help Taiwan to achieve its goal of becoming an Asian innovation hub, he said.
Tung said he has also noticed that society has overly emphasized the difficulties that start-ups might face in the early stages of their development.
“Our education system needs to change. We should encourage the younger generation to think outside of the box, be adventurous and not afraid of failure,” Tung said.
Crowdfunding company Backer-Founder (貝殼放大) chief executive Tahan Lin (林大涵) said he thinks it is not necessary to build an “Asian Silicon Valley” in Taiwan, as it is more important to help investors cooperate with start-ups.
What start-up companies need is investors who understand their vision and their added-value, rather than having a location like an industrial park in northern Taiwan, Lin said.
InnoVEX, an exhibition featuring 217 start-ups from 22 nations, is taking place at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 3, along with Computex Taipei.
Organizers the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Taipei Computer Association said five main fields — hardware and the Internet of Things; B2B software; cloud applications; consumer technology; and health technology — are being displayed by both local and foreign start-ups at the venue from yesterday until tomorrow.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
Nvidia Corp’s major server production partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) reported 10.99 percent year-on-year growth in quarterly sales, signaling healthy demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Revenue totaled NT$2.06 trillion (US$67.72 billion) in the last quarter, in line with analysts’ projections, a company statement said. On a quarterly basis, revenue was up 14.47 percent. Hon Hai’s businesses cover four primary product segments: cloud and networking, smart consumer electronics, computing, and components and other products. Last quarter, “cloud and networking products delivered strong growth, components and other products demonstrated significant growth, while smart consumer electronics and computing products slightly declined,” compared with the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of