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.
STRONG INTEREST: Analysts have pointed to optimism in TSMC’s growth prospects in the artificial intelligence era as the cause of the rising number of shareholders The number of people holding shares of chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a new high last week despite a decline in its stock price, the Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (TDCC, 台灣集保) said. The number of TSMC shareholders rose to 2.46 million as of Friday, up 75,536 from a week earlier, TDCC data showed. The stock price fell 1.34 percent during the same week to close at NT$1,840 (US$57.55). The decline in TSMC’s share price resulted from volatility in global tech stocks, driven by rising international crude oil prices as the war against Iran continues. Dealers said
PRICE HIKES: The war in the Middle East would not significantly disrupt supply in the short term, but semiconductor companies are facing price surges for materials Taiwan’s semiconductor companies are not facing imminent supply disruptions of essential chemicals or raw materials due to the war in the Middle East, but surges in material costs loom large, industry association SEMI Taiwan said yesterday. The association’s comments came amid growing concerns that supplies of helium and other key raw materials used in semiconductor production could become a choke point after Qatar shut down its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and helium output earlier this month due to the conflict. Qatar is the second-largest LNG supplier in the world and accounts for about 33 percent of global helium output. Helium is
China is clamping down on fertilizer exports to protect its domestic market, industry sources said, putting an additional strain on global markets that were already grappling with shortages caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. China is among the largest fertilizer exporters — shipping more than US$13 billion of it last year — and it has a history of controlling exports to keep prices low for farmers. Shipments through the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz account for about one-third of the sea-borne supply. This month, Beijing banned exports of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends and certain phosphate varieties, sources said. The ban, which has not
AMAZING ABUNDANCE: Elon Musk has announced plans for a new facility in Texas which would manufacture chips for Tesla and SpaceX to use in robotics and AI Elon Musk said his Terafab project — a grand plan to eventually manufacture his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and space data centers — would be built in Austin and jointly run by Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX). Musk, the chief executive officer of the two companies, said he would start off with an “advanced technology fab” in Austin that would have all of the equipment necessary to make chips of any kind. The project would call for one day supporting 1 terawatt (TW) of computing power per year, the amount Musk expects the companies to
RSS